._ 

QiWe  Slot- 
SOCIAL  PROGRESS  OF  ALABAMA 


5 

A  SECOND  STUDY 
330 

385 

OF  THE 


OCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  AND  AGENCIES 
OF  THE  STATE  OF  ALABAMA 


MADE  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF 
GOVERNOR  THOMAS  E.  KILBY 


BY 


HASTINGS  H.  HART,  LL.D. 

RUSSELL  SAGE  FOUNDATION 
NEW  YORK  CITY 


MONTGOMERY,  ALABAMA 
DECEMBER,   1922 


SOCIAL  PROGRESS  OF  ALABAMA 

A  SECOND  STUDY 
QF  THE 

SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS  AND  AGENCIES 
OF  THE  STATE  OF  ALABAMA 


MADE  AT  THE  REQUEST  OF 
GOVERNOR  THOMAS  E.  KILBY 


BY 

HASTINGS  H.  HART,  LL.D. 

RUSSELL  SAGE  FOUNDATION 
NEW  YORK  CITY 


MONTGOMERY,  ALABAMA 

December,  1922 


SOCIAL  PROGRESS  OF  ALABAMA 


Hon.  Thomas  E.  Kilby,  Governor  of  Alabama. 

DEAR  SIR:  Four  years  ago,  in  1918, 1  submitted  a  report 
at  the  request  of  your  predecessor,  Governor  Charles  Hen- 
derson, on  the  SOCIAL  PROBLEMS  OF  ALABAMA,  pre- 
senting the  condition  of  the  social  agencies  and  institutions 
of  the  State,  as  affected  by  the  conditions  created  by  the 
Great  War  and  offering  certain  recommendations  for  the 
improvement  of  the  social  work  of  the  State.  This  report 
received  the  favorable  consideration  of  yourself  and  the 
State  Legislature.  Most  of  its  recommendations  were 
adopted  and  suitable  legislation  was  enacted  to  carry  them 
out. 

CONDITIONS  IN  1918. 

The  principal  points  brought  out  in  my  report  of  1918 
were  as  follows : 

1.  All  of  the  State  social  agencies,  except  the  State 
Board  of  Inspection,  were  hampered  and  restricted  by  a 
lack  of  sufficient  appropriations  and  delay  in  payment  SO' 
that  their  efficiency  was  impaired  and  their  development 
was  hindered. 

The  insane  hospitals  were  admirably  organized,  but 
they  had  only  $15  per  month  appropriated  for  each  patient, 
without  any  appropriation  whatever  for  building  or  extra- 
ordinary repairs,  or  to  meet  the  increased  cost  of  living. 
As  a  consequence  all  buildings  were  out  of  repair;  the  em- 
ploye force  was  demoralized  for  lack  of  sufficient  salaries, 
and  the  patients  suffered  for  needed  provisions  for  their 
care  and  comfort. 

The  Confederate  Soldiers'  Home  was  in  bad  physical 
condition.  The  force  of  nurses  was  insufficient  and  incom- 
petent, and  the  State  was  coming  far  short  of  its  obliga- 
tions to  the  old  and  helpless  veterans  who  had  done  for  her 
such  valiant  service. 

The  State  Industrial  School  for  Boys  was  occupying 
several  buildings  unfit  for  use  and  its  employe  force  was 


depleted.  The  State  Training  School  for  Girls  was  occupy- 
ing inadequate  quarters  which  were  insecure  and  did  not 
permit  of  suitable  classification. 

The  prisoners  of  the  State  were,  most  of  them,  employed 
on  the  convict  lease  system  which  was  condemned  by  your- 
self and  by  two  successive  legislative  committees  in  1918 
and  1919  as  being  inhuman  and  cruel,  beyond  expression. 
Most  of  the  convicts  were  employed  in  coal  mines,  without 
the  protection  of  guards  employed  by  the  State.  The  pris- 
oners occupied  rude  barracks  constructed  by  the  leasing 
companies.  The  buildings  were  old  and  unfit  for  use.  The 
prisoners  slept  on  wooden,  swinging  bunks  suspended  from 
the  ceiling,  with  thin  husk  mattresses  and  no  springs.  The 
bedding  was  dirty  and  abominable.  The  dormitories  were 
overcrowded  and  badly  ventilated.  The  food  was  badly 
cooked  and  served  and  lacked  sufficient  variety.  The  pris- 
oners presented  a  wretched  and  neglected  appearance. 

There  was  no  State  agency  or  institution  for  the  care  of 
orphan  and  homeless  children,  but  the  matter  was  left  en- 
tirely to  private  orphanages  and  societies.  There  was  no 
provision  whatever  in  the  State  for  the  care  of  feeble- 
minded and  epileptic  children,  many  of  whom  lived  in 
wretched  homes  of  poverty  and  were  left  free  to  multiply 
their  kind  without  restriction. 

The  State  Board  of  Health  had  an  appropriation  of  only 
$26,000  per  year  for  all  its  activities.  At  the  same  time, 
the  State  was  expending  $56,000  per  year  for  the  prevention 
of  hog  cholera  and  cattle  ticks  and  for  the  Live  Stock  Sani- 
tary Board.  Only  one  southern  state  showed  as  small  an 
appropriation  for  public  health  as  Alabama. 

Similar  conditions  existed  with  reference  to  public  edu- 
cation. Alabama  was  spending  for  public  schools,  for  each 
$100  true  value  of  taxable  property  17.4  cents,  as  against 
an  average  in  the  United  States  of  25.7.  She  was  spend- 
ing $2.04  for  each  inhabitant,  as  against  an  average  of 
$6.03  for  the  United  States;  and  she  was  expending  for 
teachers'  salaries  an  average  of  $344  yearly  per  teacher, 
as  against  an  average  of  $563  for  the  United  States.  The 
average  days'  attendance  of  each  pupil  was  85  days  in  the 
year,  as  against  an  averge  of  121  for  the  whole  United 
States.  Outside  the  cities  there  were  very  few  good  school- 


houses,  and  multitudes  of  schoolhouses  were  simply  poorly 
constructed  wooden  shacks. 

The  total  receipts  of  universities,  colleges,  and  tech- 
nicological  schools  for  each  1,000  inhabitants  in  Alabama 
were  $298,  as  against  an  average  of  $1,310  for  the  whole 
United  States ;  and  the  income  of  the  State  University  was 
$75  for  each  1,000  inhabitants,  as  against  $403  for  the 
whole  United  States. 

The  highways  of  the  State,  except  in  the  larger  towns, 
were  but  little  developed,  and  practically  no  State  aid  was 
given  for  their  extension. 

The  National  Child  Labor  Committee  submitted  an  elab- 
orate report  in  December,  1918  with  reference  to1  the  de- 
pendent, delinquent,  and  defective  children  of  the  State, 
recommending  the  estiblishment  of  a  State  department  to 
take  charge  of  the  interests  of  this  class  of  children,  to- 
gether with  the  enforcement  of  laws  relating  to  child  labor 
and  school  attendance. 

AN  AMAZING  FORWARD  MOVEMENT. 

The  facts  above  stated,  and  others  relating  to  the  social 
interests  of  the  State,  were  clearly  presented  by  you  to  the 
Legislature  and  the  people  of  the  State.  Special  commit- 
tees and  commissions  studied  the  situation  during  the  sum- 
mer recess  and  reported  to  the  Legislature  when  it  was 
reconvened  in  August,  1919.  The  necessities  of  the  case 
were  clearly  recognized,  and  the  Legislature  courageously 
and  patriotically  enacted  the  necessary  laws  to  meet  the 
situation. 

The  assessment  laws  were  strengthened  so  as  to  insure 
just  valuation;  a  tonnage  tax  on  coal  and  steel  was  im- 
posed, and  an  income  tax  law  was  passed  which,  however, 
was  pronounced  unconstitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court. 

In  my  report  of  1918,  speaking  of  the  possibility  of 
issuing  bonds  to  take  up  the  floating  debt  of  $3,000,000,  I 
said:  "This  plan  was  rejected  by  the  people  at  the  polls, 
and  I  suppose  that  it  might  be  rejected  again.  I  venture, 
however,  to  hazard  a  prediction  that,  within  ten  years,  the 
people  of  Alabama  will  vote,  not  three  million,  but  at  least 
twenty-five  millions  of  bonds  for  good  roads  and  other  im- 
provements"; but  in  less  than  a  year  the  Legislature  sub- 


mitted  a  constitutional  amendment  to  authorize  the  issu- 
ance of  twenty-five  millions  of  bonds  for  good  roads,  and 
when  the  law  proved  defective  the  special  session  of  1921 
renewed  it.  The  people  voted  the  bonds  and  they  are  about 
to  be  issued. 

The  Legislature  increased  the  allowances  for  the  public 
institutions  as  follows: 

The  Insane  Hospitals  from  $3.50  to  $5  weekly  per  pa- 
tient. 

The  Boys'  Industrial  School  from  $12.50  to  $20  monthly 
per  boy. 

The  Negro  Boys'  Reformatory  from  $9.00  to  $12.50 
monthly  per  boy. 

The  Vocational  School  for  Girls  from  $12.50  to  $25.00 
monthly  per  girl. 

State  Training  School  for  Girls  from  $12.50  to  $25.00 
monthly  per  girl. 

The  Confederate  Soldiers'  Home  from  $22.50  to  $40.00 
monthly  per  patient. 

The  Bryce  Hospital  for  the  Insane  received  appropria- 
tions for  a  receiving  hospital  for  incoming  patients,  a  home 
for  male  attendants,  a  new  kitchen,  and  for  the  renovation 
of  the  old  buildings. 

An  appropriation  of  $270,000  was  made  for  land  and 
buildings  for  a  feeble-minded  colony.  The  Boys'  Indus- 
trial School  received  an  appropriation  for  a  new  fire-proof 
dormitory:  "Kilby  Hall,"  a  gymnasium,  and  a  swimming 
pool.  The  Negro  Boys'  Reformatory  received  funds  for  a 
model  schoolhouse  and  for  an  enlargement  of  the  boys' 
dormitory.  The  Vocational  School  for  Girls  received  ap- 
propriations for  a  new  cottage  institution  in  the  suburbs 
of  the  city  of  Birmingham.  Four  cottages,  a  schoolhouse, 
a  hospital,  a  power  house,  and  a  storehouse  have  already 
been  built. 

The  Board  of  Control  and  Economy  already  possessed 
the  authority,  under  preceding  laws,  to  expend  such  amounts 
as  may  Jbe  necessary  to  provide  accommodations  for  the 
prisoners  of  the  State.  The  Legislature,  having  decreed 
the  abolition  of  the  convict  lease  system,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  provide  prisons  and  prison  camps  for  the  confine- 
ment of  the  prisoners  who  now  occupied  buildings  belong- 
ing to  the  several  lessees. 


The  Board  of  Control  and  Economy,  with  the  active  co- 
operation of  the  Governor,  took  steps  to  meet  this  demand. 
The  Board  purchased  the  land  near  Montgomery,  occupied 
during  the  Great  War  as  a  military  camp,  and  erected  a 
central  distributing  prison  for  about  900  prisoners,  known 
#s  Kilby  Prison,  which  is  described  further  on.  They  also 
built  a  well-planned,  two-story,  wooden  dormitory  for  about 
500  men  at  the  Speigner  Prison,  where  the  State  conducts 
a  large  cotton  mill,  the  old  buildings  at  Speigner  Prison 
being  completely  worn  out  and  unfit  for  use. 

The  Board  rebuilt  Camp  No.  4,  which  is  located  on  a 
farm  belonging  to  the  State.  This  is  a  well-constructed, 
one-story,  wooden  structure. 

The  Board  has  remodeled  the  old  central  prison  at  We- 
tumpka  to  provide  accommodations  for  the  women  prison- 
ers of  the  State.  The  interior  of  the  buildings  was  re- 
moved and  dormitories,  living  rooms,  dining-rooms,  kitch- 
ens and  a  hospital  have  been  provided. 

The  tuberculosis  camp  for  prisoners  at  Wetumpka  will 
be  continued  as  it  meets  the  present  needs  of  the  prison 
population. 

The  camps  above  mentioned  wrill  provide  for  something 
more  than  half  of  the  present  prison  population. 

A  farm  camp  will  probably  be  constructed  outside  the 
walls  at  Kilby  Prison  and  other  State  camps  will  have  to 
be  provided  at  different  points  in  the  State  before  the  ex- 
piration of  the  lease  system  at  the  coal  mines  which  will 
terminate  in  January,  1924. 

My  report  of  1918,  also  the  report  of  the  National  Child 
Labor  Committee,  recommended  the  establishment  of  a 
State  Child  Welfare  Department.  In  accordance  with  this 
recomemndation,  the  Legislature  of  1918  established  a  de- 
partment, with  an  annual  appropriation  of  $30,000. 

The  appropriations  for  the  work  of  the  State  Board  of 
Health  have  been  expended  as  follows : 

1918 ' .  .  $  26,000 

1919    90,000 

1920    125,000 

1921    150,000 

1922  .  150.000 


8 

The  State  Department  of  Education  co-operated  with 
the  local  school  authorities  for  the  improvement  of  the 
schools  throughout  the  State, — especially  for  the  proper 
housing  of  rural  schools.  In  the  year  1921,  167  new  school- 
houses  were  built,  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,100,000,  of  which 
$221,000  was  appropriated  by  the  State.  Ninety-three 
schoolhouses  were  repaired  by  the  aid  of  State  funds. 
Forty-three  teachers'  homes  have  been  built  in  connection 
with  the  rural  school  buildings  in  different  parts  of  the 
State.  Liberal  expenditures  were  made  for  buildings  at 
the  State  University  and  the  other  State  educational  insti- 
tutions, and  their  annual  appropriations  were  increased. 

The  highway  fund  of  $25,000,000,  for  which  bonds  have 
been  authorized,  will  bring  in  a  corresponding  amount 
from  the  general  Government,  and  an  elaborate  road  sys- 
tem has  already  been  planned  for  the  $50,000,000  which 
will  revolutionize  the  transportation  facilities  of  the  State, 
to  the  benefit  of  the  entire  population. 

Advantage  has  been  taken  of  the  infant  hygiene  appro- 
priation of  the  General  Government  by  appropriating  a 
corresponding  fund.  In  1922,  the  State  received  $30,840 
from  the  United  States'  Infant  Hygiene  Fund,  and  this 
amount  will  be  increased  in  the  future. 

These  generous  expenditures  of  money  and  this  array 
of  fine  permanent  buildings  do  not  represent  simply  cash 
and  brick  and  mortar.  They  represent  the  social  spirit  and 
purpose  of  the  people.  A  remarkable  indication  of  this 
spirit  is  seen  in  the  drive  which  is  now  being  conducted 
throughout  the  State  to  raise  a  million  dollars  by  private 
subscription  for  additional  buildings  at  the  State  Univer- 
sity. In  most  states  which  have  universities  supported  by 
public  appropriations  the  people  at  large  feel  themselves 
free  from  any  obligation  to  make  private  contributions  for 
the  university. 

DETAILS  OF  SOCIAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

I  desire  to  go  more  into  detail  in  the  story  of  the  re- 
markable social  development  of  Alabama  during  the  past 
four  years,  as  exemplified  in  the  public  social  institutions. 
I  shall  refrain  from  discussing  in  detail  the  educational 


progress  of  the  State  because  that  has  recently  been  cov- 
ered by  a  very  thorough  and  competent  investigation. 

THE  ALABAMA  STATE  HOSPITALS  FOR  INSANE. 
In  my  report  of  1918  I  said: 

The  two  hospitals  for  insane  are  doing  social  work 
of  the  highest  quality.  I  have  visited  many  insane 
hospitals  but  I  have  never  seen  a  more  careful  diag- 
nosis or  a  better  co-ordination  of  the  medical  work 
and  the  social  work  than  is  found  in  these  two  hos- 
pitals; but  their  equipment  is  painfully  indaequate. 
There  has  been  no  special  appropriation  for  buildings 
in  30  years.  They  lack  the  equipment  which  is  now 
recognized  as  essential  in  every  well-ordered  hospital 
for  insane.  .  .  . 

There  has  been  no  adequate  increase  of  appropria- 
tion to  meet  the  increase  of  expense  due  to  the  war. 
Up  to  April,  1917,  the  appropriation  for  maintenance 
and  improvements  was  only  $3.25  per  week  per  patient ; 
since  that  time  it  has  been  advanced  to  $3.50  per  week. 
.  .  .  In  the  absence  of  any  increased  appropriation 
it  has  been  impossible  to  increase  the  compensation  of 
the  officers  and  employes.  .  .  .  The  State  is  ac- 
tually receiving  for  the  labor  of  convict  miners  more 
money  than  it  is  paying  for  the  service  of  conscien- 
tious trained  people  to  take  care  of  its  insane  patients. 

In  order  to  maintain  hospital  standards  .  .  . 
the  allowance  per  patient  ought  not  to  be  less  than  $20 
per  month. 

In  accordance  with  this  recommendation,  the  Legislature 
of  1919  increased  the  allowance  for  the  hospitals  for  insane 
to  $5  per  week  for  each  patient.  The  hospital  management 
continued  to  practice  the  most  rigid  economy  consistent 
with  the  proper  care  of  their  wards.  They  made  some  in- 
creases in  the  salaries  of  employes  in  order  to  recruit  the 
service,  which  had  become  badly  demoralized  during  the 
war,  though  the  increased  salaries  are  still  below  the  rates 
paid  for  similar  service  in  other  first-class  hospitals.  These 
changes  are  indicated  by  the  following  illustrations : 


10 


Monthly  Salaries  of  Certain  Employes  in  Bryce  Hospital. 


1917 

Male  supervisor    $50* 

Female  supervisor  50f 

Assistant    45f 

Male  nurses   25  to  $35f 

Female  nurses 25  to     35f 


1922 

$115* 

125t 

75f 

"40  to  $50f 
30  to     40t 


*With  house,  light,  water  and  vegetables. 
fWith  board. 


There  was  very  little  increase  in  expenditure  for  food,, 
fuel,  and  clothing,  but  the  increased  allowance  was  used  to 
improve  the  condition  of  the  buildings.  The  administration 
building  was  thoroughly  renovated.  The  interior  was  thor- 
oughly painted;  dilapidated  plastering  was  replaced;  rick- 
ety staircases  were  repaired ;  and  leaky  roofs  were  renewed. 
New  floors  of  quarter-sawed  southern  pine  were  laid  over 
the  worn-out  floors  in  the  patients'  wards  and  the  walls 
and  ceilings  were  painted.  The  windows  were  screened 
and  protected  by  a  second  inside  screen  of  one-half-inch 
mesh,  which  obviates  the  need  of  window  guards.  Iron 
cots  with  good  cotton  mattresses  replaced  the  old  insanitary 
wooden  beds. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  total  expense  and  the 
expense  per  patient  in  the  Bryce  Hospital  and  the  Searcy 
Hospital,  in  1919  and  1922 : 

Expenses  of  State  Institutions. 

ALABAMA  INSANE  HOSPITALS. 


Salaries  and  wages  

Bryce  MI 
Hospital 
1919 
.  .  .$117,316 

emorial 
(White). 
1922 
$171,043 
36,973 
136,223 
16,911 

Searcy  Hospital 
(Colored). 
1919            1922 
$  51,376     $  68,681 
18,967         20,550 
57,013         62,346 
6,410         12,971 
11,283           8,104 
4,332         13,314 
16,925         25,982 

Clothing     

23,162 

Food    

115,850 

Fuel    

.  .  .     22,879 

Farm  and  garden  

.  .  .     16,814 

Building  and   repairs  

5,776 

40,097 
75,164 

Miscellaneous   

33,583 

Totals    $335,379     $476,411     $166,306     $211,948. 


11 

Same,  Per  Inmate. 


Salaries   and  wages    

.  ..$     83.08     i 

£     95.34     i 

£     69.14     i 

f     78.31 

Clothing                        

16.40 

20.62 

25.53 

23.43 

Food          

82.05 

75.93 

76.73 

71.09 

Fuel          

16.20 

8.87 

8.63 

14.79 

Farm   and  garden  .... 

11.91 

15.18 

9.24 

Building  and   repairs  , 

4.09 

22.35 

5.83 

15.18 

Miscellaneous    

23.79 

42.45 

22.78 

29  63 

Totals    $  237.52     $  265.56     $  223.82     $  241.67 


Average  number  of  inmates  . .        1,412 


1,794 


742 


877 


Notwithstanding  the  increased  cost  of  living,  which 
cannot  be  counted  less  than  50  per  cent  increase  over  the 
cost  of  living  before  the  war,  it  will  be  observed  that  the 
increased  cost  of  caring  for  the  white  patients  was  only 
11.3  per  cent,  while  the  increased  cost  of  caring  for  the 
colored  patients  was  7.9  per  cent.  The  increased  expendi- 
ture for  salaries  and  wages  was  15  per  cent  at  the  Bryce 
Hospital  and  13  per  cent  at  the  Searcy  Hospital.  The  trus- 
tees have  kept  strictly  within  the  allowance  made  by  the 
Legislature.  Payment  is  made  by  relatives  or  friends  for 
the  support  of  a  comparatively  small  number  of  white  pa- 
tients which  allowed  a  slightly  larger  expenditure  per  pa- 
tient for  them,  amounting  to  about  $24  annually  per  patient. 

A  new  psychopathic  reception  hospital  is  being  built, 
which  will  accommodate  all  incoming  patients.  It  will  have 
ample  accommodations  for  60  patients,  with  room  for  ex- 
amination and  treatment  of  patients.  The  building  will 
cost  about  $15,000  in  cash,  not  including  a  large  amount  of 
inmate  labor. 

A  commodious  home  for  70  male  employes  is  nearing 
completion.  This  home  will  enable  the  nurses  to  recruit 
themselves  for  their  exhausting  work,  which  is  impossible 
when  nurses  sleep  in  rooms  opening  off  from  the  insane 
wards. 

A  new  kitchen  is  being  erected,  which  will  have  modern 
equipment  and  will  greatly  facilitate  the  proper  feeding  of 
the  patients.  Three  diet  kitchens  have  been  established, 
in  which  special  diet  is  prepared  by  the  nurses  on  prescrip- 


12 

tions  with  as  much  care  as  is  given  to  the  compounding  of 
drugs  in  the  dispensary. 

The  defective  water  supply  is  to  be  remedied  by  securing 
a  supply  from  the  city  water  works  of  Tuscaloosa. 

The  dental  clinic  has  been  made  efficient.  Modern  equip- 
ment was  provided  in  1920,  and  each  patient  on  entrance  re- 
ceives a  dental  examination  as  thorough  as  the  medical 
examination. 

A  fine  cow  stable  has  been  built  which  accommodates  a 
herd  of  10  registered  Jerseys  and  37  grade  Jerseys.  When 
a  cow  produces  less  than  two  gallons  daily  she  is  sent  to 
the  butcher.  There  is  a  daily  product  of  80  to  100  gallons 
of  milk  for  the  use  of  the  patients. 

The  administration  of  the  hospital  has  been  reorgan- 
ized with  four  departments:  a  medical  department,  under 
the  assistant  superintendent,  a  business  department  under 
an  expert  steward,  a  mechanical  department  under  an  ex- 
pert chief  engineer,  and  a  farm  department  under  a  farm 
supervisor. 

The  most  urgent  demands  for  building  and  repairs  hav- 
ing been  met,  the  weekly  allowance  has  been  reduced  from 
$5  to  the  old  figure  of  $3.50.  In  my  judgment,  it  would  be 
wiser  to  maintain  the  appropriation  at  the  rate  of  $5  per 
week  and  to  allow  the  Board  of  Control  and  Economy  to 
make  the  additional  improvements  which  will  be  needed 
before  they  can  be  completed.  The  population  of  the  Bryce 
Hospital  has  increased  at  the  rate  of  about  125  patients  per 
year,  or  500  for  the  four-year  period.  Cottages  accommo- 
dating from  30  to  50  patients  each  should  be  erected  to  meet 
the  prospective  increase  of  population.  A  hospital  for  sick 
patients,  separate  and  distinct  from  the  new  psychopathic 
hospital,  should  be  provided,  and  the  psychopathic  hospital 
should  be  used  exclusively  for  incoming  patients. 

Every  citizen  of  Alabama  is  interested  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  high  standards  which  have  prevailed  at  the 
Bryce  Hospital  in  the  past.  There  are  no  private  hospitals 
for  mental  diseases  in  Alabama.  There  is  no  insurance 
against  insanity.  Any  family  in  the  State  may  have  occa- 
sion to  avail  itself  of  the  State  Hospital,  and  the  Hospital 
should  be  so  equipped  and  administered  as  to  provide  hu- 
mane and  suitable  care  for  patients  from  every  walk  of  life. 


13 

Searcy  Hospital  for  Negroes. 

The  Searcy  Hospital  is  located  at  Mt.  Vernon.  It  is 
under  the  same  general  superintendency  as  the  Bryce  Hos- 
pital and  is  under  the  immediate  charge  of  an  assistant 
superintendent. 

The  same  general  standards  of  medical  treatment  and 
nursing  care  prevail  at  both  hospitals.  The  Negro  patients 
are  under  the  charge  of  white  nurses,  with  Negro  assistants, 
and  the  nurses  apparently  exercise  the  same  skill  and  give 
the  same  conscientious  care  to  the  Negroes  as  to  the  whites. 

The  hospital  has  a  good  supply  of  trained  female  nurses 
— 21  white  nurses  and  19  colored  assistants.  Trained  fe- 
male nurses  receive  the  same  pay  as  at  the  Bryce  Hospital. 
There  is  difficulty  in  securing  competent  male  nurses. 
Negroes  are  employed  for  the  rough  work  and  are  paid 
from  $20  to  $35  per  month  and  board. 

Two  hundred  new  army  cots  have  been  provided  and  75 
new  hospital  beds,  but  the  remainder  of  the  furniture  is  of 
primitive  character.  New  cotton  mattresses  have  been 
made  for  each  patient. 

The  infirmary  or  hospital  contains  13  beds  for  men  and 
women.  The  operating  room  is  only  moderately  well  fur- 
nished. Considerable  attention  is  paid  to  the  important 
matter  of  "occupational  therapy,"  and  I  was  informed  that 
60  per  cent  of  the  patients  are  employed  at  pleasant  and 
congenial  work,  which  not  only  saves  money  to  the  State, 
but  also  contributes  to  the  happiness  and  well-being  of  the 
patients. 

The  dormitories  and  the  beds  were  very  clean  and  well 
kept.  The  kitchen  and  bakery  were  clean  and  sanitary.  A 
limited  amount  of  butter  is  made  and  used  by  the 
patients.  Large  quantities  of  tomatoes  and  fruit  are  canned 
for  the  use  of  patients.  The  dairy  is  an  important  depart- 
ment. It  is  furnishing  about  500  pounds  of  milk  daily  for 
the  patients.  A  new  feed  barn  for  from  100  to  150  cattle 
has  been  built,  with  two  hollow-tiled  silos,  having  a  capacity 
of  250  tons  each. 

A  new  concrete  reservoir  has  been  built.  There  is  an 
ample  supply  of  water  from  five  springs. 

The  Searcy  Hospital  is  located  at  old  Fort  Mount  Ver- 
non, about  30  miles  from  the  city  of  Mobile,  at  the  southern 


14 

extremity  of  the  State.  I  would  recommend  that  immediate 
steps  be  taken  to  move  the  hospital  to  a  convenient  location 
in  the  central  part  of  the  State.  This  can  now  be  done  with 
very  little  sacrifice  because  the  prison  buildings  are  old 
and  of  little  value.  The  present  location  necessitates  long 
journeys  for  patients  and  for  the  officers  in  charge  of  them, 
and  it  entails  almost  prohibitive  expense  for  relatives  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  State  who  wish  to  visit  their  friends 
in  the  hospital.  If  the  Searcy  Hospital  were  located  within 
convenient  distance  of  the  Bryce  Hospital,  it  would  facilitate 
the  supervision  of  the  institution  by  the  general  superin- 
tendent. 

The  last  Legislature  fixed  the  per  diem  of  the  Searcy 
Hospital  at  the  same  rate  as  that  of  the  Bryce  Hospital, 
namely,  $5  per  week.  The  managing  board,  however,  has 
kept  the  expenses  within  the  old  limit  of  $3.50  per  week, 
and  the  allowance  has  been  reduced  accordingly.  I  would 
recommend  that  the  allowance  be  continued  at  $5  per  week, 
and  that  the  Board  of  Control  and  Economy  be  allowed  to 
accumulate  a  fund  for  the  removal  of  the  hospital  to  a  more 
convenient  site ;  or,  if  that  is  not  deemed  wise,  for  the  pro- 
gressive erection  of  adequate  buildings  in  place  of  the  worn- 
out  buildings  which  are  now  occupied. 

ALABAMA  HOME  FOR  FEEBLE-MINDED. 
In  my  report  of  1918,  I  said : 

There  are  at  least  3,000  feeble-minded  and  1,000 
epileptics  in  the  State  who  are  uncared  for  and  are  in 
urgent  need  of  care.  They  suffer  sadly;  many  become 
paupers  or  criminals;  many  die  before  their  time  for 
want  of  care ;  many,  because  of  neglect,  become  parents 
of  children  afflicted  like  themselves*  These  wretched, 
unhappy  people  can  be  made  happy  and  useful  in  such 
institutions  as  exist  in  most  of  the  states ;  for  example, 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 

In  accordance  with  this  recommendation,  the  Legisla- 
ture appropriated  the  sum  of  $200,000  for  the  establish- 
ment of  an  Alabama  Home,  to  provide  for  the  feeble-minded. 

There  has  been  erected  an  admirable  building,  contain- 
ing four  dormitories  for  40  persons  each,  with  a  total  ca- 


15 

pacity  of  160,  together  with  suitable  living  room,  toilets, 
baths,  drug  room,  etc. ;  also  a  building  which  is  intended  to 
serve  ultimately  as  a  general  kitchen,  but  will  provide  tem- 
porarily a  kitchen  and  dining-room  for  160  inmates;  also 
an  admirable  fire-proof  laundry  building  and  power  house 
with  a  concrete  tunnel  3l/2  feet  wide  and  4l/4  feet  high,  con- 
necting with  the  other  buildings. 

These  buildings  are  not  only  attractive  architecturally, 
but  are  admirably  adapted  to  their  purpose.  They  are  thor- 
oughly well  built  and  strictly  fire-proof. 

The  home  is  not  yet  opened ;  it  is  waiting  for  the  neces- 
sary appropriations  for  furnishings  and  maintenance,  but 
already  there  is  a  waiting  list  of  urgent  cases,  and  the  Legis- 
lature will  doubtless  make  the  necessary  appropriations 
without  delay.  The  capacity  of  the  home  should  be  imme- 
diately increased  to  at  least  600  in  order  to  provide  for 
.urgent  cases. 

Corresponding  provision  for  the  Negro  feeble-minded 
should  be  made  without  delay.  There  is  the  same  reason 
for  providing  for  the  Negro  feeble-minded  that  has  led  to 
State  provision  for  insane  Negroes,  Negro  criminals,  and 
Negro  delinquent  children.  A  large  proportion  of  the  de- 
fective children  are  a  menace  to  the  community  because  they 
become  criminals  or  paupers,  and  because  they  tend  to 
multiply  their  kind  more  rapidly  than  the  normal  popula- 
tion. 

I  congratulate  the  State  of  Alabama  upon  the  splendid 
beginning  which  has  been  made  at  the  State  Home,  and  also 
upon  the  wisdom  which  has  placed  this  institution  under 
the  same  administration  as  that  of  the  hospitals  for  insane^ 
The  management  of  the  insane  hospitals  appears  to  be 
fully  alive  to  the  needs  of  the  feeble-minded,  and  the  State 
is  able  to  command  people  of  the  highest  intelligence  and 
capability  to  develop  the  new  home. 

THE  CONFEDERATE  SOLDIERS'  HOME. 

I  visited  the  Confederate  Soldiers'  Home  in  1918,  and 
found  that  with  the  advancing  age  of  the  veterans,  it  had 
become  practically  a  hospital  proposition.  I  found  that  the 


16 

hospital  facilities  were  entirely  inadequate  and  that  the 
staff  were  not  qualified  for  the  work. 

The  Superintendent  of  the  State  Prison  Inspection  De- 
partment made  a  report  in  October,  1919,  in  which  he 
recommended  extensive  repairs,  a  radical  improvement  of 
the  food  supply,  arid  a  reorganization  of  the  hospital  de- 
partment. 

These  recommendations  were  promptly  carried  out,  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  Governor.  The  buildings  were  thor- 
oughly repaired,  and,  where  necessary,  painted  both  outside 
and  inside.  New  equipment  in  the  way  of  bedding  and 
furniture  was  supplied;  the  hospital  was  completely  over- 
hauled and  put  in  satisfactory  condition  and  a  trained 
nurse  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  hospital. 

The  dietary  was  radically  improved.  The  farm  now 
produces  an  abundance  of  fresh  milk,  vegetables  and  fruit, 
which  are  of  excellent  quality. 

Septic  tanks  have  been  installed,  insuring  a  safe  and  re- 
liable water  supply. 

The  State  is  now  able  to  give  to  these  deserving  veterans 
such  care  as  is  needed  in  their  extreme  old  age.  Only  a 
few  more  years  remain  in  which  to  pay  the  debt  which  the 
State  owes  them.  The  people  of  the  State  not  only  provide 
cheerfully  the  small  amount  of  $35,000  per  year  which  is 
needed  for  the  maintenance  of  the  inmates  of  the  Soldiers' 
Home,  but  also  nearly  $1,000,000  per  year  for  pensions  to 
those  who  still  remain  with  their  families  and  friends. 

Expenses  of  the  Confederate  Soldiers'  Home. 

(Comparative  Statement.) 

Current  Expenses. 

1919  1922 

Salaries  and  wages $  7,314  $  9,709 

Clothing    966  1,623 

Pood    9,137  9,786 

Fuel    729  1,248 

Building  and  repairs .' 737  9,941 

Miscellaneous    .                                      7,749  11,202 


Totals   $26,632  $35,439 


17 

Same,  Per  Inmate. 

Salaries  and  wages  $  72.73  $116.60^ 

Clothing 9.61  19.50 

Food    68.28  117.00 

Fuel    7.25  15.0ft 

Building  and  repairs 7.33  23.31 

Miscellaneous    .  99.66  134.27 


Totals    $264.86  $425.68* 

Average  number  of  inmates 100.6  83.3* 


*The  expense  per  capita  is  figured  on  the  average  number 
which  decreased  from  100.6  to  83.3,  but  at  the  same  time  the  number 
of  employes  maintained  by  the  home  was  materially  increased.  These 
facts  account  in  part  for  the  increased  per  capita  rate;  the  remainder 
is  due  to  improvement  in  food,  clothing,  furniture,  etc. 

ALABAMA  BOYS'  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL. 

For  many  years  the  Alabama  Boys'  Industrial  School 
was  impoverished  for  lack  of  revenue.  For  ten  years  prior 
to  1918  the  school  had  received  no  building  appropriation, 
and  the  appropriation  for  support  was  only  $12.50  per  boy. 
This  amount  had  to  cover  not  only  the  maintenance  of  the 
boys,  but  any  improvements  which  might  be  made.  Even 
under  these  circumstances,  material  was  purchased  and  a 
handsome  cottage  was  built  by  the  labor  of  the  boys,  but 
the  buildings  were  out  of  repair,  the  dormitories  were  ter- 
ribly overcrowde^d  and  the  shops  were  in  a  dilapidated 
condition. 

The  increased  cost  of  living  produced  by  the  war  greatly 
increased  the  embarrassment  of  the  institution.  The  most 
useful  and  enterprising  employes  went  to  France,  and  it 
was  impossible  to  obtain  competent  substitutes  for  the 
meager  salaries  which  were  possible. 

The  Legislature  of  1919  increased  the  appropriation  for 
fiving  expenses  from  $12.50  to  $20  per  month.  An  appro- 
priation for  new  buildings  was  made  to  the  amount  of 
$93,000.  With  this  appropriation  a  fine  fire-proof  dormi- 
tory, for  100  boys,  costing  only  about  $45,000,  named  Kilby 
Hall,  has  been  erected,  also  a  small  but  practical  gymnasium 
and  outside  bathing  pool.  A  first-class  modern  dairy  barn, 
with  accommodations  for  50  cows,  is  being  built,  which  will 


18 

make  possible  the  production  of  an  abundant  supply  of 
first-class  milk. 

Through  the  generosity  of  Mrs.  T.  G.  Bush,  the  school 
has  been  presented  with  a  beautiful  brick  chapel  of  colonial 
•design. 

The  pointing  office  has  been  furnished  with  modern 
equipment  and  is  the  best  vocational  department  of  the  in- 
stitution. 

A  very  gratifying  improvement  has  been  made  in  the 
medical  and  surgical  work  of  the  school.  A  thorough  medi- 
cal examination  is  made  and  is  followed  by  operations  for 
diseased  tonsils,  adenoids,  and  other  remediable  treatment. 
This  work  is  of  the  utmost  importance  because  it  affects 
the  whole  future  opportunity  of  the  boy.  The  hospital  has 
been  repaired  and  made  habitable,  though  it  is  still  inade- 
quate. 

One  serious  deficiency  is  in  'the  lack  of  psychological 
tests  and  psychiatric  treatment,  which  are  rapidly  coming 
to  be  recognized  as  indispensable  features  of  juvenile  re- 
formatory treatment. 

These  improvements  have  greatly  increased  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  school,  yet  they  only  emphasize  the  need  of 
additional  accommodations  in  order  to  provide  for  the  safe 
and  sanitary  care  of  the  inmates. 

Music  has  become  a  strong  feature  of  the  school.  It  has 
one  of  the  best  bands  in  the  South.  Forty  to  fifty  boys  are 
constantly  instructed  by  a  first-class  band  master.  They 
are  in  frequent  demand  for  service  at  public  gatherings. 
They  have  recently  been  employed  by  a  concert  agency  on 
liberal  terms  to  make  a  concert  tour  in  Texas. 

Current  Expenses. 

The  following  statement  of  current  expenses  of  27  in- 
stitutions for  delinquent  boys  shows  that  the  annual  per 
capita  cost  of  the  Alabama  School  was  $240,  while  the  aver- 
age of  the  27  schools  was  $346.  Only  four  schools  showed 
a  lower  rate  of  per  capita  expense  than  the  Alabama  School. 

The  average  number  of  boys  for  each  employe  was  5.7, 
but  the  average  number  in  Alabama  was  11.4,  which  is  ex- 
actly twice  as  many  boys  for  each  employe  as  the  average. 


19 


Only  one  other  school  showed  as  large  a  number  of  boys 
in  proportion  to  the  employes  as  the  Alabama  School. 

Current  Expenses   and  Pupils  Per  Employe  in   Twenty- 
seven  Schools  for  Delinquent  Boys. 


No.  of  Expense 

State.                                Inmates.  Per  Boy. 

North  Dakota   142  $675 

New  Jersey    517  535 

New  York 650  518 

Massachusetts   272  516 

Minnesota    300  506 

Vermont    242  461 

Montana    121  452 

Nebraska 204  445 

Utah    250  400 

South  Dakota 115  389 

District  of  Columbia 150  372 

Illinois    715  339 

Idaho    270  333 

Ohio    1,000  300 

New  Hampshire   194  301 

Mississippi    407  300 

Rhode  Island   207  295 

Indiana    534  295 

Iowa   357  288 

North  Carolina   262  268 

Kansas    345  250 

Florida    300  240 

ALABAMA    388  240 

West  Virginia 409  231 

Tennessee    606  215 

Tennessee 500  200 

Louisiana     155  184 


Totals    9,612 


$346 


Total 

Current 

Expenses. 

$      95,900 

276,600 

336.700 

140,900 

151,800 

111,500 

54,700 

90,800 

100,000 

44,700 

55,800 

242,400 

90,000 

300,000 

58,400 

122,100 

61,100 

158,200 

102,800 

70,200 

86,300 

72,000 

93,100 

94,500 

130,300 

100,000 

28,500 


No.  of 
Boys  Per 
Employe.. 

5.7 

4.0 

3.6 

3.8. 

3.8 

5.9- 

5.8- 

5.2. 

7.2 

5.T 

7.5- 

5.5- 

6.8- 

7.7 

6.9- 

8.1 

4.8 

9.2 

5.S 

8.T 

6.9 

8.8 
11.4 

9.1 
12.1 
11.1 

8.6 


$3,269,300 


5.7 


The  rates  of  salaries  paid  to  the  employes  in  the  Ala- 
bama School  are  lower  than  those  in  other  schools  of  the 
same  quality,  while  the  work  imposed  is  greater.  The 
teachers  instruct  two  sets  of  boys,  beginning  at  seven  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  The  salary  fund  does  not  permit  of  the 
employment  of  relief  officers  and  the  only  way  in  which 


20 

the  employes  of  the  school  can  receive  proper  time  off  is 
by  putting  older  boys  in  charge  of  the  younger  ones.  A  cer- 
tain amount  of  self-government,  under  the  oversight  of  the 
teachers  and  house-fathers,  is  a  good  thing,  but  these  boys 
•are  not  sufficiently  matured  or  trustworthy  to  justify  giving 
-them  complete  charge  in  the  absence  of  the  house-fathers. 

All  well-organized  juvenile  reformatories  provide  parole 
'officers  to  follow  up  the  boys  after  they  are  released  on  pa- 
role, to  guide  and  bef rjend  them,  to  assist  them  in  obtaining 
employment,  to  see  that  they  comply  with  the  conditions  of 
the  parole,  and  to  return  them  to  the  institution  if  they  fail 
to  do  so. 

The  inadequacy  of  the  salary  fund  has  prevented  the 
employment  of  parole  officers  to  maintain  oversight  of  boys 
after  they  are  released  or  before  they  have  received  their 
complete  discharge.  When  the  State  has  expended  $250 
or  $500  in  bringing  a  boy  to  the  point  where  he  desires  to 
lead  an  upright  life,  it  would  seem  to  be  the  part  of  wisdom 
and  economy  to  spend  another  $50  in  order  to  make  sure 
that  the  boy  shall  get  the  benefit  of  what  has  been  done  for 
him. 

When  a  boy  is  paroled  and  goes  back  into  the  neighbor- 
hood from  which  he  came  he  is  marked  as  one  who  has 
been  in  a  reform  school,  and  that  is  "when  a  feller  needs  a 
friend."  He  needs  someone  who  will  encourage  and  stimu- 
late him,  and  who  will  take  him  back  to  the  institution  for 
a  fresh  start  if  he  fails  to  meet  the  conditions  of  his  parole. 

The  parole  officers  need  to  be  men  of  svmpathy,  courage, 
wisdom,  and  good  judgment  because  they  have  to  act  at  a 
distance  from  the  institution  without  the  advice  and  direc- 
tion of  the  superintendent. 

The  Board  of  Directors  is  asking  for  a  further  increase 
of  the  current  expense  appropriation  from  $20  monthly  per 
boy  to  $25,  or  $300  per  year.  If  this  increase  is  given,  the 
appropriation  will  still  be  $46  per  year  less  than  the  average 
of  the  27  schools  above  mentioned. 

While  decided  improvement  has  been  made  in  the  equip- 
ment of  the  school  during  the  past  three  years,  there  is 
great  need  of  further  improvement. 

The  dormitories  are  greatly  overcrowded  and  two  ad- 
ditional dormitories  are  askecl  for  to  relieve  the  nresent 


21 

pressure  and  to  provide  for  the  natural  increase.  A  new 
shop  building  is  asked  for  to  replace  the  present  wooden 
building  which  is  in  a  state  of  decay,  unfit  to  carry  ma- 
chinery and  exposing  the  institution  to  danger  from  fire. 

The  school  accommodations  are  entirely  inadequate. 
The  superintendent  recommends  that  the  present  dining- 
room  be  remodeled  for  schoolrooms  and  a  new  dining-room 
and  kitchen  built. 

The  present  kitchen  and  bakery  are  located  in  the  cellar 
and  are  without  cross-ventilation,  which  is  indispensable 
in  a  southern  climate  for  rooms  where  ranges  and  laundry 
machinery  are  in  use.  Even  if  a  new  dining-room  should 
not  be  built,  the  kitchens  should  be  brought  up  to  the  ievel 
of  the  ground  and  located  in  buildings  which  can  be  kept 
sanitary  and  can  be  properly  ventilated.  The  kitchen  and 
bakery  are  torture  chambers  in  hot  weather. 

The  Board  of  Directors  is  asking  for  $45,000  for  a  new 
hospital.  The  present  hospital  facilities  are  entirely  inade- 
quate. The  building  is  old  and  badly  arranged  and  is  a 
fire  trap. 

Further  Improvements. 

The  Board  of  Directors  is  asking  for  $20,000  for  general 
repairs.  The  buildings  have  been  long  neglected.  New 
floors,  new  plastering  and  new  paint  are  greatly  needed. 

A  teachers'  cottage  is  requested,  which  seems  to  be  in- 
dispensable. Since  the  teachers  begin  work  at  seven  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  it  is  necessary  for  them  to  live  on  the 
grounds,  and  there  are  at  present  no  suitable  accommoda- 
tions. 

The  Directors  are  asking  for  $20,000  for  machinery  and 
equipment  to  diversify  the  manual  training  work  of  the 
school.  It  is  highly  important  to  diversify  trade  teaching 
because  only  a  limited  number  of  boys  is  adapted  to  a  par- 
ticular trade. 

The  total  requests  of  the  Board  of  Directors  for  special 
appropriations  amount  to  $258,000.  This  amount  dis- 
tributed over  a  period  of  four  years  will  be  only  $65,000 
per  year,  which  is  not  excessive  for  an  institution  of  so 
great  importance. 


22 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  school  has  never  had 
proper  buildings  and  that  it  is  necessary  practically  to  re- 
construct the  plant. 

The  increase  of  the  appropriation  for  current  expenses 
from  $150  to  $240  per  boy  has  permitted  a  great  improve- 
ment in  the  administration,  but  the  present  appropriation 
is  still  inadequate. 

I  earnestly  advise  that  the  improvements  of  the  past 
four  years  be  continued  until  this  school  shall  become  equal 
in  its  equipment  and  its  efficiency  to  the  best  schools  of  its 
class. 


23 


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24 

ALABAMA  REFORM  SCHOOL  FOR  JUVENILE  NEGRO  LAW- 
BREAKERS AT  MT.  MEIGS. 

When  I  studied  the  social  work  of  Alabama  four  years 
ago,  I  wondered  at  what  had  been  accomplished  at  Mt. 
Meigs,  under  the  leadership  of  Judge  William  H.  Thomas, 
of  the  Alabama  Supreme  Court,  who  is  president  of  its 
Board  of  Directors. 

The  total  appropriation  for  this  school  was  $9  per  month 
per  boy,  which  not  only  covered  maintenance,  but  all  re- 
pairs and  improvements.  Out  of  this  meager  sum  the  trus- 
tees had  purchased  additional  land  and  had  also  purchased 
material  and  erected  with  their  own  boy  labor  a  dormitory 
and  a  good  modern  dairy  barn  with  concrete  silo.  The 
boys  were  fed  almost  entirely  by  the  produce  of  the  farm, 
and  meat  was  furnished  from  a  flock  of  goats  on  the  place. 

The  school  facilities  were  very  poor  and  the  teachers 
were  necessarily  inferior  in  training. 

Out  of  this  meager  allowance  the  institution  has  accumu- 
lated buildings.  With  this  appropriation  the  old  dormitory 
is  being  enlarged  and  a  standard  modern  schoolhouse  is 
being  built.  The  sand  and  gravel  are  found  on  the  farm 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  labor  is  performed  by  the  boys. 

The  appropriation  is  now  about  $12  per  month. 

The  school  is  peculiar  in  being  one  of  the  very  few 
schools  for  delinquent  -Negroes  where  the  superintendent 
and  employes  are  all  colored  people. 

The  staff  of  workers  is  entirely  inadequate.  There  are 
eleven  employes — six  men  and  five  women — for  285  boys, 
an  average  of  about  26  boys  for  each  employe,  whereas  the 
usual  number  in  juvenile  reformatories  is  not  more  than  six 
or  seven  pupils  for  each  employe. 

The  dormitory  accommodations  have  been  inadequate — 
double-deck  single  beds  have  been  provided,  but  four  boys 
have  slept  in  each  "double-decker."  The  beds  were  clean, 
each  boy  being  supplied  with  two  sheets,  changed  semi- 
weekly.  The  dormitories  have  been  so  crowded  that  the  air 
space  was  only  150  cubic  feet  per  boy  instead  of  450  to  600 
cubic  feet,  which  is  the  standard  amount. 

There  has  been  no  plumbing  or  sewerage  for  the  dormi- 
tory building.  By  the  use  of  the  savings  above  mentioned, 


25 

the  size  of  the  dormitory  building  is  to  be  doubled.  Modern 
plumbing,  including  toilets  and  shower  baths  will  be  in- 
stalled. This  will  give  a  great  relief,  but  the  air  space  will 
still  be  inadequate. 

There  is  an  excelelnt  dairy  herd  of  grade  cows,  which  is 
being  improved  from  year  to  year  by  two  fine  bulls.  This 
herd  should  be  increased. 

The  truck  garden  is  excellent — well  planted  and  well 
cultivated  and  producing  a  large  amount  of  food.  Very 
little  meat  is  fed — only  about  a  pound  weekly  for  each  boy ; 
but  there  is  an  abundant  supply  of  corn  bread  and  vege- 
tables. The  school  makes  its  own  cane  and  sorghum  syrup. 

Notwithstanding  the  scanty  fare,  the  boys  appear  to  be 
healthy  and  contented.  Although  the  boys  live  and  work 
in  the  open  and  there  are  only  six  men  on  the  place,  the 
number  of  escapes  is  negligible.  During  the  past  year  only 
four  boys  escaped  who  were  not  returned. 

The  school  has  been  unfortunate  in  the  loss  of  Superin- 
tendent Sims,  but  is  fortunate  in  the  continued  interest  and 
devotion  of  Judge  W.  H.  Thomas  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
who  has  given  a  great  deal  of  personal  attention  to  the 
work. 

The  salary  appropriation  should  be  increased  to  such 
a  degree  as  to  permit  of  the  employment  of  a  first-class 
superintendent. 

The  school  facilities  are  entirely  inadequate,  there  being 
only  three  teachers  for  285  boys. 

There  is  no  parole  officer ;  the  paroled  boys  have  to  shift 
for  themselves.  A  parole  officer  should  be  employed. 

This  school  is  unquestionably  doing  much  to  prevent 
crime  among  the  Negroes.  The  State  can  afford  to  increase 
its  facilities. 

STATE  TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS. 

Within  the  past  year,  a  new  cottage  plant  has  been  built 
for  the  Alabama  Training  School  for  Girls.  It  is  located 
within  the  city  limits  of  Birmingham,  about  six  miles  from 
the  center  of  the  city. 

The  land  available  for  this  purpose  is  insufficient, 
amounting  to  only  about  23  acres,  which  does  not  give  suf- 
ficient separation  of  the  school  from  the  general  public. 


26 

The  plant  consists  of  four  handsome  well-built  cottages,, 
together  with  a  schoolhouse,  hospital,  heating  plant,  a  store- 
house and  a  laundry. 

The  cottages  provide  a  separate  room  for  every  girl. 
These  rooms  are  about  7  by  10  feet  and  are  very  well 
lighted. 

The  schoolhouse  is  sufficient  for  present  needs,  but  will 
have  to  be  enlarged  as  the  school  grows.  At  the  present 
time  there  are  a  little  over  100  girls  in  attendance. 

The  hospital  is  small  but  is  well  equipped,  well  managed,, 
and  is  in  charge  of  a  competent  graduate  nurse.  The  medi- 
cal work  has  been  greatly  improved. 

At  the  present  time  the  school  suffers  the  inconveniences 
of  an  incompleted  institution.  The  storage  facilities  are  in- 
adequate, some  of  the  buildings  are  unfinished,  the  walks 
are  incomplete,  but  the  general  aspect  of  the  institution  is 
pleasing,  and  it  is  conveniently  accessible  to  the  city  of 
Birmingham. 

Mrs.  Ophelia  L.  Amigh,  who  has  been  superintendent  of 
the  school  since  its  first  opening,  has  retired  from  the  super- 
intendency  and  has  taken  charge  of  the  parole  work.  The 
State  of  Alabama  owes  a  permanent  debt  to  this  indefatiga- 
ble woman  who,  in  her  old  age,  founded  the  school,  carried 
it  on  for  years  with  the  most  meager  facilities  and  estab- 
lished it  on  a  permanent  basis. 

The  Board  of  Control  and  Economy  has  made  every  ef- 
fort to  provide  adequate  equipment  for  the  school,  and  to 
organize  it  on  a  permanent  and  substantial  basis. 

Judging  from  the  experience  of  other  states,  the  State 
Training  School  should  provide  for  at  least  200  girls,  which 
would  mean  10  cottages  instead  of  four.  The  present  amount 
of  land,  23  acres,  is  entirely  inadequate.  Additional  land 
should  be  secured  while  adjacent  property  is  still  available. 

VOCATIONAL  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS, 
Birmingham,  Alabama. 

The  Vocational  School  for  Girls,  formerly  known  as 
Mercy  Home,  is  a  small,  but  well-conducted  school  for  de- 
linquent girls.  It  is  conducted  by  a  private  board  of  trus- 
tees, but  receives  assistance  from  the  State. 

The  State  appropriation  for  the  expenses  of  the  school! 
have  been  as  follows : 


2? 

1919   ...$2,500 

1920    .'.   6,320 

1921   6,320 

1922   6,320 

The  expense  per  capita  for  1919,  with  an  average  of  29 
girls  was  $229.60;  and  for  1922,  with -an  average  of  26  girls 
was  $291.37. 

The  school  has  been  doing  good  work  for  a  class  of  girls 
who  ought  not  to  be  sent  to  the  State  Training  School.  The 
school  is  under  the  direction  and  guidance  of  a  group  of 
interested  Birmingham  women. 

GIRLS'  RESCUE  HOME. 

Within  the  past  four  years  the  colored  women  of  Ala- 
bama raised  a  sum  of  money  to  erect  a  cottage  for  the  care 
of  delinquent  colored  girls.  The  greatest  credit  is  due  to 
them  for  their  efforts  to  provide  for  these  girls.  This  cot- 
tage is  located  on  the  same  farm  with  the  school  for  colored 
boys,  but  is  entirely  independent  in  its  management. 

The  one  cottage  has  only  accommodations  for  about  12 
or  14  girls,  and  was  practically  full  at  the  time  of  my  visit. 
•Only  one  woman  is  employed  in  the  care  of  the  girls. 

The  spirit  of  the  house  seemed  to  be  excellent  and  the 
.girls  under  good  control.  There  should  certainly  be  two 
women  in  charge  of  this  house.  Even  in  the  larger  insti- 
tutions of  this  class,  it  is  customary  to  have  an  employe  for 
every  five  or  six  girls. 

The  Home  is  supported  entirely  by  voluntary  contribu- 
tions. The  expenses  for  the  year,  with  an  average  of  10 
girls  were  pitifully  small.  The  expenditures  are  reported 
.as  follows: 

Salaries  and  wages ' $480 

Food    268 

Fuel,  light  and  water 62 

Farm  and  garden  supplies 9 

Hospital  and  medical  supplies  .  . 16 

Furnishings  and  equipment 40 

Miscellaneous    81 

Total  .      ..:.. ...$956 


28 

This  expenditure  is  at  the  rate  of  only  $96  per  girl. 

The  managers  of  the  school  have  made  a  practical  dem- 
onstration of  good  work  under  the  most  discouraging  cir- 
cumstances. They  should  have  the  encouragement  and  as- 
sistance of  the  people  of  the  State. 

The  same  reasons  which  led  to  making  the  institution 
for  colored  boys  a  State  institution  certainly  apply  to  the 
institution  for  colored  girls.  The  school  should  be  relocated, 
with  proper  provision  for  schools,  and  instruction  in  domes- 
tic science,  sewing,  and  so  forth. 

The  present  cottage  can  be  made  available  for  the  use  of 
the  Boys'  School,  and  the  State  can  build  a  new  cottage  to 
replace  it,  on  a  new  site. 

THE  PENITENTIARY  SYSTEM  OF  ALABAMA. 
In  my  report  of  1918,  I  said: 

Alabama  is  one  of  the  very  few  states  which  still 
retain  the  convict  lease  system,  this  system  having  been 
abadoned,  I  believe,  by  every  state  except  Alabama, 
Florida  and  North  Carolina.  ... 

The  convict  lease  system  as  maintained  by  the 
Board  of  Inspectors  of  Convicts  has  been  greatly  modi- 
fied so  as  to  do  away  with  many  of  its  objectionable 
features.  .  '..  .  But  under  this  system  the  State 
does  not  and  cannot  protect  its  prisoners  from  physical 
injury,  accidental  death,  moral  degeneracy,  or  even 
from  murder. 

I  showed  that  out  of  388  deaths  of  convicts  in  four 
years'  time,  72  were  killed  by  accident,  being  29  per  cent 
of  the  deaths,  and  that 

Notwithstanding  the  excellent  sanitorium  at  We- 
tumpka  for  tuberculous  prisoners  ...  in  the  four 
years  ending  1914,  42  per  cent  of  the  deaths  were  from 
tuberculosis  and  pneumonia,  and  in  the  four  years  end- 
ing 1918,  44  per  cent. 

I  showed,  further,  that  in  the  mines  where  prisoners 
are  employed  on  the  lease  system,  the  company  foreman. 


29 

had  no  authority  over  them  and  could  exercise  no  control 
over  immoral  practices. 

The  convict  lease  system,  even  in  the  modified  form 
which  exists  in  Alabama,  was  condemned  in  the  reports  of 
legislative  committees  in  1915  and  1919. 

In  your  Inaugural  Message,  of  January  21,  1919,  you 
said: 

"Our  system  of  contracting  the  labor  of  convicts 
is  a  reproach  to  the  State," 

and  you  quoted  from  the  report  of  a  committee  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  1915,  setting  forth  the  abuses  of  that  system :  for 
example  that 

Under  the  late  leases  of  the  State,  they  are  so 
worded  that  the  convict  is  under  the  control  of  the 
State,  and  when  maimed  or  injured,  has  no  remedy, 
however  great  may  be  the  negligence,  or  however  wan- 
ton or  wilful  may  be  the  act  causing  his  injury. 

At  the  same  session  of  the  Legislature,  July  8,  1919,  a 
report  was  presented  by  a  legislative  investigating  com- 
mittee on  convicts,  which  said : 

We  have  visited  every  coal  mine,  lumber  camp,  tur- 
pentine still,  and  in  fact  every  convict  camp  in  the 
State  of  Alabama.  .  .  .  We  have  studied  the  laws 
of  other  states  relative  to  the  method  and  manner  of 
handling  their  convicts  and  building  public  roads.  .  .  . 
The  convict  lease  system  in  the  State  of  Alabama  is  a 
relic  of  barbarism.  It  is  next  to  impossible  for  the 
average  citizen,  unfamiliar  with  the  conditions,  to  grasp 
or  comprehend  the  horrors  attending  such  a  system.  It 
is  hard  to  describe  the  cruelty,  woe  and  misery  grow- 
ing out  of  such  a  system.  ...  It  has  been  the 
policy  of  the  State  to  brand  the  convict  with  the  Dollar 
Mark  when  he  is  convicted  and  turned  over  to  the 
State  to  begin  his  term  of  servitude.  .  .  .  His 
physical,  moral,  and  religious  welfare  is  as  completely 
abandoned  as  if  he  was  a  brute,  and  no  thought  is 
given  to  the  relation  he  will  bear  to  society  when  re- 
leased. 


30 

These  declarations  were  accompanied  by  quotations  from 
sworn  testimony,  and  ended  with  the  recommendation  that 
the  convict  lease  system  be  abolished. 

In  the  light  of  these  facts,  the  Legislature  passed  an  act 
providing  for  the  abolition  of  the  convict  lease  system.  This 
act  was  amended  at  the  special  session  of  1921  (Act  No.  22) 
to  read  as  follows: 

On  and  after  January  1,  1924,  it  shall  be  unlawful 
for  any  person  to  lease  or  let  for  hire,  any  State  con- 
vict to  any  person,  firm,  or  corporation. 

Florida  and  North  Carolina  have  since  abolished  the 
lease  system  and  Alabama  is  the  last  state  in  the  Union  to 
continue  it.  It  has  been  abandoned  by  one  state  after  an- 
other, often  at  large  financial  sacrifice,  and  the  people  of 
Alabama  may  well  congratulate  themselves  upon  its  pending 
termination. 

I  have  visited  five  camps  at  which  prisoners  are  still 
-employed  under  the  lease  system — the  Flat  Top  Mine,  the 
Banner  Mine,  the  Belle  Ellen  Mine,  the  Aldrich  Mines,  and 
the  River  Falls  Lumber  Camp. 

I  found  that  extraordinary  improvements  had  been 
made  at  all  of  these  camps  since  my  inspection  four  years 
ago. 

A  deputy  warden  has  been  placed  in  each  mine,  to  pass 
through  the  mine  daily,  observing  the  conditions  under 
which  the  prisoners  work  and  to  investigate  complaints  on 
the  spot.  This  change  is  a  great  protection  to  the  convicts 
as  to  conditions  of  work,  danger  of  accident,  and  just  treat- 
zment. 

The  abominable  swinging  wooden  shelves  on  each  of 
which  two  prisoners  formerly  slept  have  been  replaced  by 
army  cots,  with  springs,  mattresses,  sheets  and  pillow- 
cases, the  bedding  being  changed  semi-weekly.  Sheets, 
pillow-cases  and  mattress  covers  are  marked  with  the  num- 
ber of  the  prisoner,  who  always  gets  the  same  articles. 

The  kitchens  have  been  provided  with  ranges  and  a  bal- 
anced dietary  has  been  established,  including  wheat  bread, 
corn  bread,  biscuit,  syrup,  beef,  pork,  excellent  hams,  a  good 
supply  of  milk,  and  a  good  variety  of  fresh  and  canned  vege- 


31 

tables.  Dining-rooms  have  been  provided  with  plated 
knives,  forks  and  spoons,  and  with  better  dishes.  In  some 
camps  earthenware  dishes  have  replaced  iron  and  aluminum. 

The  medical  service  has  been  greatly  improved,  though 
it  is  still  deficient,  especially  in  equipment  as  to  hospital 
apparatus  and  instruments. 

The  hospitals,  dormitories,  kitchens,  bakeries  and  din- 
ing-rooms are  kept  clean  and  are  apparently  free  from  ver- 
min. Windows  have  been  screened,  reducing  the  number 
of  flies  to  a  minimum. 

The  discipline  has  been  greatly  improved.  You  issued 
an  order,  July  11,  1922,  instructing  the  Warden-General  to- 
abolish  whipping  in  all  departments  of  the  Penitentiary,  to 
cause  the  straps  to  be  destroyed,  and  to  give  notice  to  the 
several  wardens  that  violation  of  this  order  would  be  cause 
for  discharge. 

I  talked  with  most  of  the  wardens  of  the  several  camps 
with  reference  to  this  order.  They  disapproved  of  the  or- 
der at  the  outset,  believing  that  it  would  be  impossible  to- 
control  the  prisoners  if  flogging  were  abolished,  but  I  found 
that,  with  experience,  they  had  changed  their  minds.  Sev- 
eral wardens  informed  me  that  the  men  were  more  orderly 
and  diligent  than  before,  and  that  they  were  now  convinced 
of  the  wisdom  of  this  action.  Some  difficulty  was  found 
with  a  small  number  of  prisoners,  who  were  disposed  to- 
take  advantage  of  the  new  order,  but  in  every  case  it  was. 
found  possible  to  meet  the  difficulty  by  other  means  of  pun- 
ishment than  flogging. 

I  found  marked  improvement  in  the  spirit  and  morale, 
both  of  prisoners  and  officers.  I  quote  the  following  items 
from  my  notes  on  the  several  prison  camps : 

Flat  Top  Mine:  Shrubbery  and  plants  have  been 
set  out  and  a  small  playground  provided  for  ball  play- 
ing in  the  yard.  Dining-room  scrupulously  clean. 
Men's  dinner  buckets  clean.  Clean  white  suits  for  men 
to  wear  when  out  of  mine.  Each  man  has  a  locker  for 
private  use.  White  sheets  and  pillow-cases  changed 
twice  weekly.  White  mattress  covers — all  made  by  con- 
victs. Dormitories  thoroughly  whitewashed.  Wonder- 
ful change. 


32 

Store  operated  by  the  State.  Profits  go  to  the 
State,  but  are  applied  to  welfare  work.  Sales  to  439 
men,  $1,000  per  month. 

Floors  very  poor;  cannot  be  kept  sanitary.  Hos- 
pital in  bad  repair ;  cannot  maintain  aseptic  conditions. 
Mining  Company  sympathetic  with  new  order,  but  not 
disposed  to  undertake  expense  because  of  approaching 
termination  of  contract. 

Notwithstanding  these  great  improvements,  the  lease 
system  continues  to  operate  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  State 
and  of  the  prisoners.  Under  the  leases,  it  is  made  the  duty 
of  the  contractors  to  provide  buildings  and  furniture  at 
each  camp ;  but  in  most  cases  the  lessees  have  been  unwilling 
to  make  such  changes  and  improvements  as  were  necessary 
in  order  to  make  the  prison  habitable.  Most  of  the  build- 
ings at  the  several  camps  are  old,  and  some  of  them  are 
completely  worn  out. 

Banner  Mine:  Dormitory  reasonably  clean;  beds 
fairly  clean.  Sheets  and  pillow-cases  changed  semi- 
weekly.  Mattress  covers  changed  every  other  week. 

Clean  kitchen,  with  good  range  and  clean  kettles. 
Thirty  gallons  of  milk  and  seven  to  eight  pounds  of 
fresh  butter  given  the  men  three  times  per  week.  Din- 
ner: Macaroni,  sweet  potatoes,  light  bread,  coffee. 
Supper:  Roast  beef,  sweet  potatoes,  butter,  biscuit, 
coffee,  applie  pie.  (This  was  called  "a  light  meal.") 

Formerly  prisoners  at  the  mines  were  able  to  earn  a 
large  amount  for  themselves  after  completing  their  tasks, 
by  overtime.  In  the  other  three  mines  these  earnings  are 
greatly  reduced,  but  at  the  Banner  Mine  it  was  stated  that 
the  men  were  earning  about  $2,000  per  month,  an  average 
of  $5  monthly  per  man.  Some  of  the  men  send  considerable 
money  to  their  families.  The  warden  said: 

A  man  earns  for  the  State  $75  a  month,  and  his 
family  suffers.  The  State  should  pay  a  portion  of  his 
earnings  to  his  family. 


33 

He  also  said: 

Since  whipping  was  abolished  the  men  load  more 
coal  and  earn  more  extra  money.  A  few  white  men 
have  tried  to  take  advantage  of  the  new  rule;  the 
Negroes  are  more  tractable.  Formerly  about  10  per 
cent  of  the  men  had  to  be  whipped,  and  I  thought  that 
there  was  no  way  to  get  on  without  whipping. '  Gam- 
bling has  been  cut  out.  It  is  hard  to  enforce  it,  but  it 
can  be  done. 

The  warden  said  that  no  chains  or  handcuffs  were  used. 

The  camp  has  a  farm  of  170  acres.  This  year  they  pro- 
duced 1,000  gallons  of  syrup  and  8,400  pounds  of  sweet  po- 
tatoes. 

The  hospital  was  not  very  clean.  The  wards  were  bare. 
The  building  is  rotten  and  cannot  be  kept  in  sanitary  con- 
dition. The  dormitories  were  reasonably  clean,  and  were 
seriously  overcrowded.  Fifty  double-deck  beds  were  in  use. 

Belle  Ellen  Mine:  300  Negro  prisoners.  Dormi- 
tories had  clean  beds,  with  white  sheets  and  pillow- 
cases. Covers  for  mattresses  were  changed  when 
soiled.  The  dining-room  was  clean.  The  storeroom 
was  dirty  and  disorderly.  The  hospital  was  fairly 
clean,  but  the  colored  ward  has  a  very  poor  floor.  • 

The  dormitories  were  provided  with  army  cots, 
but  were  so  overcrowded  that  there  were  a  number  of 
hanging  beds  overhead.  Toilets  were  equipped  with 
poor  plumbing,  but  were  in  clean  condition. 

There  is  an  underground  dungeon,  10  feet  square, 
used  for  punishment.  It  is  dark,  damp,  insanitary  and 
insecure. 

Moving  pictures  are  furnished  weekly  by  the  State. 

Ten  officers  have  300  prisoners,  an  insufficient  num- 
ber 

The  Coal  Company  provides  buildings  and  furni- 
ture. It  is  very  reluctant  to  provide  adequate  equip- 
ment. 

Aldrich  Mine:  275  men.  At  the  Aldrich  Mine  there 
is  a  stockade  with  a  rotten  and  dangerous  fence.  The 
floors  are  bad,  but  the  toilets  were  in  good  condition. 
In  the  Negro  dormitory  there  were  flowers  on  a  table. 


34 

Every  man's  bedding  was  marked  personally.  There 
are  no  ranges,  but  meat  is  roasted  in  the  ovens.  There 
was  a  good  bill  of  fare.  The  kitchen  was  very  clean. 
The  dinner  buckets  were  very  clean.  The  dormitories 
and  beds  were  clean. 

The  hospital  for  colored  prisoners  had  a  very  bad 
floor.  The  hospital  was  not  very  clean.  The  toilets 
were  dirty.  There  was  a  fairly  good  clinic,  but  it  was 
supplied  with  rusty  instruments.  The  doctor  reported 
that  he  made  two  visits  daily ;  that  there  was  no  blood 
examination  of  venereal  cases,  but  that  they  were  ac- 
customed to  treat  those  who  had  lesions  until  they  were 
non-contagious.  The  same  physician  is  employed  by 
the  State  and  Mining  Company. 

The  warden  said :  "Ten  years  ago  I  would  not  have 
believed  that  corporal  punishment  could  be  discarded  . 
but  it  works  well.  Knives  and  forks  were  put  in  two 
years  ago  against  my  protest,  but  we  have  no  trouble 
with  them." 

River  Falls  Lumber  Camp:  The  Horse  Shoe  Lum- 
ber Company  pay  $50  per  month  to  the  State  for  each 
man.  The  men  now  work  eleven  hours  per  day.  In 
summer  they  work  from  twelve  to  thirteen  hours  per 
day.  This  is  additional  to  one  hour's  time  required  for 
going  back  and  forth  between  the  prison  and  the  lum- 
ber mills.  At  the  time  of  the  visit  men  were  break- 
fasting at  4:45  a.  m.  and  went  to  work  at  6  o'clock 
a.m.  They  had  one  hour  for  dinner  and  worked  eleven 
hours.  The  records  showed  that,  in  summer,  the  men 
breakfasted  at  about  3:30,  and  worked  from  twelve  to 
thirteen  hours.  The  guards  were  on  duty  from  4:30 
a.m.  to  7  p.m.,  with  an  hour  for  dinner,  leaving  thirteen 
hours  on  duty.  The  guards  work  every  third  Sunday. 
They  have  three  annual  holidays — Fourth  of  July, 
Thanksgiving  and  Christmas. 

The  hospital  is  a  fairly  good  building,  but  out  of  repair 
and  cannot  be  kept  sanitary.  There  is  a  good  sleeping  porch 
for  three  white  patients,  with  clean  beds;  an  inside  ward 
with  three  beds,  not  very  clean.  The  convicts'  dormitories 
had  white  mattress  covers  and  white  pillow-cases,  but  the 


35 

hospital  beds  had  no  mattress  covers.  There  was  a  good 
hospital  ward  for  Negro  patients.  The  dormitories  for 
white  and  colored  were  in  good  condition,  with  clean  sheets, 
pillow-cases,  mattress  covers,  and  good  army  spring  cots, 
but  with  very  poor  floors. 

The  water  supply  is  inadequate.  The  water  is  muddy 
and  clothing  cannot  be  washed  clean. 

There  was  a  good  supply  of  white  bread,  corn  bread  and 
biscuits.  There  were  two  big  kettles  for  cooking,  but  no 
ranges.  There  were  very  poor  floors  in  the  kitchen  and 
di»ning-room. 

There  is  a  new  dairy  building,  scrupulously  clean  and 
well  kept ;  a  storeroom,  clean  and  well  kept.  The  cow  barns 
were  clean,  but  primitive.  The  clothes  are  washed  and 
wrung  by  hand.  The  prisoners  are  supplied  with  white 
suits,  well  washed  by  hand.  The  storeroom  was  clean  and 
very  well  kept. 

IMPROVEMENT  IN  MORALE. 

I  have  already  described  the  remarkable  changes  which 
have  been  wrought  in  the  prison  camps  of  Alabama  as  to 
cleanliness,  sanitation,  sleeping  conditions  and  feeding,  and 
also  as  to  the  abolition  of  the  practice  of  flogging.  The  re- 
sult of  these  changes  is  manifest  in  the  morale  of  officers 
and  prisoners. 

There  is  a  great  change  in  the  aspect  of  the  prisoners. 
They  move  with  more  alertness,  they  work  with  greater 
cheerfulness  and  efficiency,  they  respond  to  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  their  officers.  This  is  not  simply  an  impres- 
sion, but  is  based  upon  the  testimony  of  the  officers  who  are 
dealing  with  them. 

KILBY  PRISON. 

As  we  have  seen,  for  many  years  Alabama  has  enjoyed 
the  unenviable  distinction  of  being  one  of  the  most  back- 
ward states  in  the  Union  in  its  provision  for  the  confine- 
ment, employment,  discipline  and  reformation  of  prisoners. 
The  evils  of  the  convict  lease  system,  even  with  the  modifi- 
cations which  prevail  in  Alabama,  were  set  forth  clearly 
and  convincingly  in  your  own  Inaugural  Message  of  1919 
and  in  two  legislative  reports  of  1915  and  1919. 


36 

Kilby  Prison  marks  the  impending  transfer  of  the  State 
of  Alabama  from  the  rear  ranks  of  prison  management  to 
the  front  ranks.  Alabama  is  following  the  example  of  the 
State  of  New  York  and  the  State  of  Virginia  in  establishing 
a  central  distributing  prison  to  which  prisoners  will  be  sent 
immediately  upon  their  conviction,  and  where  they  will  re- 
ceive: first,  a  thorough  study  of  their  history;  second,  a 
most  thorough  examination,  mental  and  physical,  by 
trained  experts;  third,  a  thorough  course  of  treatment  to 
remove  any  remediable  defects ;  fourth,  assignment  to  that 
prison  and  that  employment  for  which  the  convict  is  best 
adapted;  and,  fifth,  a  systematic  course  of  reformatory 
treatment  and  training,  in  order  that  the  prisoner  may  be 
restored  to  society,  if  possible,  a  self-respecting,  upright, 
useful  and  productive  citizen. 

There  is  but  one  prison  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
Line  which  is  comparable  in  its  design  and  its  construction 
to  Kilby  Prison;  that  is  the  United  States  Penitentiary  at 
Atlanta,  Georgia;  but  it  is  fair  to  say  that  Kilby  Prison 
having  been  built  later,  in  the  light  of  the  experience  of  the 
United  States  Penitentiary  and  other  leading  prisons,  has 
improved  in  many  particulars  over  the  plans  of  the  United 
States  Penitentiary. 

There  has  been  some  criticism  of  Kilby  Prison,  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  unduly  expensive.  A  good  prison  of  this 
type  is  necessarily  expensive  because  it  must  be  of  perma- 
nent fire-proof  construction  and  it  must  be  thoroughly  con- 
structed in  order  to  stand  the  wear  and  tear  of  coming  gen- 
erations. Most  of  the  buildings  at  Kilby  Prison  will  be 
good,  substantial  buildings  fifty  years  hence. 

To  one  who  is  acquainted  with  prison  construction  the 
surprise  is  not  that  Kilby  Prison  has  cost  so  much,  but  that 
so  thorough  and  solid  a  piece  of  work  could  be  constructed 
for  this  amount  of  money. 

Estimated  Cost  of  Kilby  Prison. 

The  Prison     Cotton  Mill  and      Total  Cost 
Proper.     Other  Buildings,  of  Buildings. 

Cash $820,000  $715,000  $1,535,000 

Convict  labor   . .  .    140,000  20,000  160,000 


Totals    $960,000  $735,000  $1,695,000 


37 

The  prison  will  accommodate  about  900  men,  so  that  the 
total  cost  of  the  prison  proper  will  be  $1,060  per  prisoner; 
the  cost  of  shops  will  be  $820  per  prisoner;  and  the  total 
cost  will  be  $1,880  per  prisoner. 

The  City  of  Detroit  is  building  a  House  of  Correction 
similar  in  its  scope  to  Kilby  Prison.  The  "strong  portion" 
of  the  Detroit  House  of  Correction,  which  will  include  the 
administration  building  and  all  facilities  for  educational 
work,  hospital,  recreation,  workshops,  etc.,  for  600  prison- 
ers, will  cost,  approximately,  $1,800,000,  or  about  $3,000 
per  prisoner. 

The  State  of  Ohio  recently  planned  a  state  penitentiary 
to  accommodate  about  3,000  prisoners.  Bids  were  taken 
for  the  construction  of  this  prison  and  these  bids  amounted 
to  about  $14,000,000,  or  $4,500  per  prisoner. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  Kilby  Prison  has  been 
built  entirely  by  the  earnings  and  the  labor  of  the  prisoners. 
During  the  past  four  years  the  prisoners  have  not  only 
earned  enough  to  pay  for  this  great  prison,  together  with 
the  entire  cost  of  their  own  maintenance,  but  have  turned 
into  the  State  treasury  a  net  revenue  of  about  $2,000,000, 
or  about  $500,000  per  year.  In  only  a  very  few  states  have 
the  prisoners  even  earned  the  cost  of  their  own  keep,  to  say 
nothing  of  producing  a  revenue  for  the  State. 

PREPARATORY  TREATMENT. 

In  order  to  carry  out  the  purpose  already  stated  of  re- 
ceiving, renovating  and  distributing  prisoners,  it  is  neces- 
sary, first,  that  there  shall  be  clinics:  medical,  surgical, 
dental,  psychological  and  psychiatric,  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  the  incoming  convicts  and  ascertaining  their  con- 
ditions and  needs. 

It  is  necessary,  second,  that  there  shall  be  provision  for 
the  treatment  of  these  prisoners:  First,  an  isolation  de- 
partment where  each  prisoner  can  be  kept  separate  from 
others  until  it  is  certain  that  he  cannot  communicate  any 
infectious  or  contagious  disease,  and  where  he  can  be  safely 
kept  until  the  various  studies  have  been  concluded  and, 
second,  a  department  for  the  study  and  treatment  of  psycho- 
pathic cases;  another  for  venereal  cases,  another  for  sur- 


38 

gical  cases,  and  another  for  medical  cases.  All  of  these  de- 
partments are  a  part  of  the  hospital  treatment  of  the  insti- 
tution to  fit  the  prisoner  for  his  subsequent  employment, 
education  and  training. 

The  same  principle  applies  to  proper  sleeping  quarters, 
good  food,  and  a  balanced  ration.  Even  from  the  most  self- 
ish motives,  the  States  cannot  afford  to  neglect  these  things, 
which  increase  the  efficiency  of  prisoners  who  produce  reve- 
nue for  the  State.  Adequate  expenditure  in  this  line  will 
pay  dividends  in  the  end. 

From  a  purely  economic  standpoint,  these  departments 
will  pay  for  themselves.  Heretofore  many  prisoners  have 
been  more  or  less  useless  from  an  industrial  point  of  view 
because  of  physical  and  moral  defects  which  might  have 
been  remedied  by  proper  treatment.  For  several  years-past 
the  "first-class  prisoners"  have  been  an  important  asset  to 
the  State,  earning  from  $30  to  $100  each  per  month  for  the 
State,  in  cash.  ^The  farmers  of  the  State  have  learned  that 
it  pays  to  build  good  stables  and  to  provide  veterinary 
treatment  and  proper  food  for  a  thoroughbred  cow  or  a 
valuable  horse  or  mule;  but  the  State  has  been  very  slow 
to  learn  that  it  is  equally  worth  while  to  take  good  care  of 
a  useful  man. 

The  City  of  Atlanta  maintained  for  many  years  a  prison 
known  as  the  Stockade,  in  which  living  conditions  were 
very  bad.  The  prisoners  were  poorly  fed  and  clothed,  and 
lacked  medical  and  dental  attendance.  Many  of  them  were 
in  bad  physical  condition  and  were  inefficient  workers.  At 
the  same  time  the  prison  authorities  were  constructing  a 
mule  stable,  on  the  most  modern  principles,  with  running 
water,  plenty  of  light,  ventilation,  and  good  food.  The 
managers  of  the  prison  knew  the  value  of  a  mule. 

At  the  American  Prison  Congress,  in  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, in  1883,  I  heard  a  remarkable  discussion  on  the  con- 
vict lease  system,  which  then  prevailed  widely  through  the 
South.  The  abuses  of  the  system  were  vividly  set  forth. 
After  the  discussion  was  over,  one  of  the  members  of  the 
Congress  said :  "Before  the  war,  we  owned  the  Negro.  If 
a  man  had  a  good  nigger,  he  could  afford  to  take  care  of 
him ;  if  he  fell  sick,  he  would  get  a  doctor.  He  might  even 
put  gold  plugs  in  his  teeth;  but  these  convicts — we  don't 


39 

own  'em — one  dies — get  another !"  That  point  of  view  in- 
volves a  great  waste  of  human  material. 

But  Kilby  Prison  is  not  simply  a  utilitarian  enterprise. 
The  State  now  recognizes  that  if  a  convict  is  useful  and 
productive  as  a  prisoner,  he  ought  to  be  still  more  useful 
and  productive  as  a  free  man.  It  recognizes  that  the  stay 
of  the  convict  in  prison  is  only  temporary,  and  that  unless 
the  State  succeeds  in  his  reformation,  he  will  again  prey 
upon  society  when  he  is  discharged.  The  present  prison 
policy  of  the  State  aims  at  the  restoration  of  these  prison- 
ers to  upright  living,  productive  work  and  good  citizenship. 
To  this  end,  provision  is  made  for  vocational  instruction,  for 
wholesome  recreation  and  for  religious  and  moral  training, 
with  schoolrooms,  playgrounds  and  a  chapel.  These  things 
will  cost  money,  but  if  properly  ordered,  they  will  produce 
a  valuable  result  in  good  citizenship. 

The  State  proposes  to  deal  with  the  prisoners  as  human 
beings  and  as  souls ;  and  this  policy  is  justified  on  the  ground 
that  the  State  will  get  value  received.  In  former  years  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  chaplain  to  preach  once  a  month  at  each 
of  the  prison  camps  and  little  more  was  expected  from  him. 
It  was  not  considered  necessary  that  he  should  be  a  robust, 
active  man;  but  today  the  chaplain  is  listed  as  a  "social 
worker."  He  is  a  strong,  active,  red-blooded  man.  He 
preaches  on  Sundays,  but  during  the  week  he  goes  from 
camp  to  camp  and  comes  into  personal  contact  with  the 
men — advising,  instructing,  and  encouraging  them  and  look- 
ing after  their  physical  as  well  as  their  spiritual  welfare. 

Kilby  Prison  is  provided  with  an  excellent  hospital, 
equipped  with  surgical  wards,  medical  wards,  single  rooms, 
clinics  of  various  kinds,  well-equipped  operating  rooms,  fine 
surgical  instruments  and  X-ray  apparatus.  These  facilities 
are  placed  in  the  hands  of  competent  physicians  and  sur- 
geons. 

The  isolation  department  has  well-ventilated  cells  in 
place  of  dungeons.  The  cells  are  furnished  with  army  cots, 
clean  bedding  and  comfortable  seats,  and  there  is  perfect 
ventilation  and  heating  system  for  hot  and  cold  weather. 
The  kitchen,  dining-room,  clothes  room  and  laundry  are 
provided  with  modern  equipment  and  are  so  constructed  that 
they  can  be  kept  immaculately  clean.  The  new  cotton  mill, 


40 

dye  house  and  shirt  factory  are  constructed  on  modern  fac- 
tory principles  and  are  to  be  equipped  with  the  best  modern 
machinery.  All  these  things  mean  not  only  that  sanitary 
conditions  shall  prevail,  that  the  prisoner  shall  be  kept 
clean,  that  he  shall  be  well  fed  and  that  he  shall  sleep  sound- 
ly, but  that  there  shall  be  aroused  in  him  a  spirit  of  co- 
operation and  good  will. 

THE  NEW  PENITENTIARY  SYSTEM. 

Kilby  Prison  is  not  to  be  restricted  to  the  walls  which 
surround  it.  Already  there  has  been  built  a  splendid  mod- 
ern dairy,  with  a  fine  herd  of  Guernsey  cows,  and  a  piggery 
has  been  established  with  blooded  stock.  It  is  expected  that 
this  dairy  and  piggery  will  not  only  furnish  an  example  of 
high-class  farming,  but  that  they  will  also  be  able  to  con- 
tribute to  the  improvement  of  cattle  and  hogs  throughout 
the  State  by  furnishing  blooded  sires,  heifers  and  sows. 
Truck  farming  will  also  be  carried  on  on  a  large  scale,  fur- 
nishing employment  to  a  large  number  of  prisoners.  These 
outside  prisoners  can  be  provided  for  in  simple  inexpensive 
wooden  camps,  like  Camp  Number  Four. 

Kilby  Prison  does  not  stand  by  itself.  It  is  part  of  the 
penitentiary  system  of  the  State.  After  the  prisoners  have 
gone  through  their  preliminary  treatment  at  Kilby  and  are 
distributed  to  the  various  camps,  they  will  be  kept  in  local 
prisons  far  simpler  and  less  expensive  than  Kilby  Prison. 
For  example,  Camp  Number  Four  is  a  one-story  wooden 
building  with  wooden  floors,  where  prisoners  who  have  been 
tested  at  Kilby  Prison  can  be  kept  safely  without  prison 
walls  or  strong  prison  buildings,  and  can  be  employed  in 
cultivating  the  soil. 

At  Speigner  Prison  there  are  being  built  excellent  dor- 
mitories of  wood,  where  500  prisoners  can  be  kept  safely 
in  buildings  which  will  not  cost  more  than  one-half  as  much 
per  prisoner  as  at  Kilby  Prison.  Before  the  lease  system 
expires  in  January  1924,  there  will  doubtless  be  other 
camps  provided,  similar  to  Camp  Number  Four,  where 
prisoners  can  be  safely  kept  under  simple  and  inexpensive 
conditions ;  but  the  success  of  these  simple  and  inexpensive 
camps  will  depend  largely  upon  the  preliminary  treatment 
for  which  Kilby  Prison  is  designed. 


41 

A  comparison  of  the  wooden  buildings,  occupied  by  pris- 
oners at  the  mining  camps  and  the  Aldrich  lumber  camps,, 
with  the  new  wooden  buildings  for  prisoners  at  the  Speigner 
Prison  and  Camp  No.  4  is  most  enlightening.  The  buildings 
at  Speigner  and  Camp  No.  4  are  well  constructed,  well  ar- 
ranged, well  ventilated,  and  steam  heated.  They  are  per- 
manent buildings  which  can  readily  be  kept  in  good  sani- 
tary condition.  The  buildings  at  the  other  camps  are  cheap, 
wooden  shacks,  badly  constructed,  incapable  of  being  kept  in 
repair  and  they  cannot  be  kept  in  sanitary  condition.  These 
conditions  are  necessarily  inherent  in  the  lease  system..  It 
is  against  the  financial  interests  of  the  leasing  companies  to 
build  permanent  and  substantial  buildings  because  of  un- 
certainty as  to  the  continuance  of  the  lease. 

PENITENTIARY  INDUSTRIES. 

The  State  having  determined  to  give  up  the  convict 
lease  system  it  is  necessary  to  provide  for  industries.  The 
success  in  recent  years  of  the  cotton  mill  at  Speigner  has 
led  to  the  building  of  a  cotton  mill  and  a  shirt  factory  at 
Kilby  Prison. 

The  women  in  the  newly-established  prison  at  Wetumpka 
will  be  employed  in  making  clothing  and  so  forth  for  the 
prisons  and  other  public  institutions.  There  has  been  some 
discussion  of  the  possibility  of  opening  up  a  State  coal  mine 
to  be  owned  and  operated  by  the  State  and  to  employ  pris- 
oners who  are  well  qualified  for  that  kind  of  work.  This 
proposition  has  a  good  deal  to  recommend  it,  but  it  would 
involve  the  investment  of  a  large  amount  of  capital  to  open 
and  equip  the  mine  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  State  will 
feel  free  to  undertake  this  enterprise  at  this  time. 

The  only  other  employment  which  is  proposed  at  the 
present  time  is  agriculture,  for  which  a  large  portion  of  the 
convicts  are  well  fitted. 

There  is  a  great  difference  in  success  attained  in  carrying 
on  convict  labor  in  different  states.  One  of  the  great  ob- 
stacles to  success  is  the  lack  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
prisoners. 

Most  of  the  prison  wardens  and  the  experienced  prison 
managers  of  the  United  States  favor  the  adoption  of  a  wage 


42 

system  as  an  incentive  to  faithful  work  on  the  part  of  the 
prisoners. 

At  most  of  the  coal  mines  where  prisoners  have  been 
employed  on  the  lease  system  opportunity  was  given  for 
prisoners  to  earn  something  for  themselves  by  overtime, 
and  this  privilege  was  found  to  be  a  great  stimulus  to  indus- 
try. It  works  unfairly  for  the  reason  that  prisoners  who 
were  employed  in  the  domestic  work  of  the  prison,  and  those 
who  were  employed  on  State  farms  had  no  opportunity  to 
earn  money,  and  much  dissatisfaction  resulted. 

During  the  war,  the  prisoners  at  the  Speigner  cotton 
mill  were  working  ll1/^  hours  per  day.  The  superintendent 
of  the  mill  called  the  prisoners  together  and  explained  to 
them  that  the  product  of  the  cotton  mill  was  being  used  for 
the  Government  and  inquired  whether  they  would  be  willing 
to  work  131/2  hours  instead  of  HVs  as  a  matter  of  patriot- 
ism. It  was  stated  that  a  small  amount  would  be  paid  as 
compensation  for  the  extra  time. 

The  prisoners  unanimously  agreed  to  this  proposal  and 
when  I  visited  the  prison  in  August,  1918,  the  prisoners, 
white  and  black,  male  and  female,  were  cheerfully  working 
131/2  hours  a  day,  and  the  prison  department  reported  that 
they  earned  for  the  State  that  year  $1,435  per  prisoner. 
The  superintendent  of  the  cotton  mill  told  me  that  he  con- 
sidered the  labor  of  these  prisoners  equivalent  to  80  per 
cent  of  what  would  have  been  accomplished  by  free  labor. 

This  extraordinary  result  was  due  apparently  to  two  in- 
centives :  First,  the  motive  of  patriotism ;  and,  second,  the 
small  amount  of  earnings  overtime  which  was,  perhaps,  50 
cents  per  day  for  each  prisoner. 

The  State  of  Minnesota  pays  wages  to  its  prisoners  at 
the  rate  of  from  25  cents  to  $1.25  per  day  and  this  payment 
has  stimulated  the  prisoners  to  a  high  degree  of  productive 
activity.  It  has  been  profitable  to  the  State,  to  the  prisoners, 
and  to  their  families,  for  the  prisoners  are  required  to  apply 
a  portion  of  their  earnings  to  the  support  of  their  dependent 
families. 

I  would  recommend  that  under  the  new  penitentiary 
system  a  system  of  wages  be  devised  under  which  not  ex- 
ceeding 75  per  cent  of  the  wages  of  the  prisoner  be  applied 


43 

to  reimburse  the  State  for  the  expenses  of  his  maintenance, 
and  not  less  than  25  per  cent  be  given  to  the  prisoner  for 
his  own  use  and  the  support  of  his  family. 

The  wages  of  the  prisoner  should  be  equivalent  to  those 
which  are  paid  to  free  laborers  for  the  same  amount  of  pro- 
duction. When  the  prisoner's  earnings  are  sufficient  to 
meet  the  entire  expense  of  his  maintenance  he  should  be 
given  the  remainder  of  his  earnings. 

The  evils  of  the  lease  system  have  resulted  largely  from 
the  fact  that  the  prisoner  was  made  a  slave,  and  being  en- 
tirely deprived  of  his  earnings  had  no  incentive  to  indus- 
try, and  it  became  necessary  therefore  to  resort  to  pun- 
ishment in  order  to  stimulate  industry,  and  this  method  in- 
evitably prevented  willing  industry  and  stimulated  bitter- 
ness, hatred  and  revolt. 

Receipts  and  Disbursements  for  Quadrennium,  1919  to  1922. 
(Building  Operation  Not  Included.) 


Prison  or  Camp. 
Aldrich                      1 

Receipts.     1 
£    951  796 

Excess  of 
Expense 
Over 
Disbursements.  Revenue. 
$    234,106            

Excess  of 
Revenue 
Over 
Expense. 
$    717,690 

Banner  

1,255  025 

406,162            

848,863 

Belle  Ellen   .    .  . 

914  513 

228,386             

686,127 

Flat  Top   

1,297  936 

340  355            

957,582 

Number  Four 

172,853 

164,031            

8,822 

River  Falls  

411,786 

164,692            

247,093 

Speigner    

451,720 

403,917            

47,803 

Wetumpka    

95,662 

302,426         $206,763 

Kilby   . 

203,544 

192  759            

10,786 

Cotton  Mill  

3,298,928 

2,696,676             

602,253 

Roy   

2855 

2,707            

148 

Clanton   

3,089 

2,273            

817 

Dixie  No   1  

8,042 

5,820            

2,221 

Dixie  No   2     

69,786 

26,158            

43,628 

Bagdad         .      ... 

51,628 

31,216            

20,412 

Tuscaloosa    

58,069 

25,691            

32,379 

Montgomery  office  . 

3,600 

352,457           348,857 

Totals    $9,250,831         $5,579,833         $555,626         $4,226,624 


44 
IMPORTANCE  OF  PERSONNEL. 

Experience  both  in  Alabama  and  other  states  justifies 
the  expectation  that  Kilby  Prison  will  produce  tangible  re- 
sults in  actual  development  of  character  and  the  reforma- 
tion of  many  of  the  prisoners  committed  to  these  walls. 
But  sanitary  cells,  good  equipment,  and  good  food  alone  can- 
not produce  character.  The  success  of  Kilby  Prison  must 
depend  upon  its  administrators.  There  must  be  a  warden 
and  subordinate  officers  who  believe  in  the  possibility  of 
reforming  prisoners,  and  who  address  themselves  to  the 
task  with  courage,  hopefulness,  wisdom,  and  patience.  The 
most  important  question,  therefore,  to  be  solved  at  Kilby 
Prison  is  the  question  of  personnel. 

What  has  just  been  said  about  the  office  of  warden  ap- 
plies with  double  force  to  the  office  of  warden-general.  The 
warden-general  is  responsible  for  the  entire  penitentiary 
system  of  the  State,  a  business  with  an  investment  of  about 
two  millions  of  dollars  and  an  annual  income  of  more  than 
.a  million.  The  place  calls  for  not  only  a  first-class  business 
administrator,  but  for  a  prison  administrator.  The  man- 
agement of  prisons  is  necessarily  a  technical  job.  No  man. 
however  capable,  can  possibly  master  the  technique  of  this 
work  in  less  than  two  years.  The  State  of  Alabama  has  had 
four  men  in  this  position  in  the  past  eight  years.  In  each 
case  a  change  has  been  made  as  soon  as  the  man  had  fairly 
mastered  his  job.  If  a  business  corporation  were  to  change 
its  general  manager  and  put  in  an  inexperienced  man  every 
two  years,  bankruptcy  would  be  the  inevitable  result.  If 
the  State  University  and  the  private  colleges  of  the  State 
were  to  change  their  presidents  every  two  years,  substitut- 
ing a  man  who  had  no  educational  experience,  what  would 
be  the  effect  upon  the  standards  and  usefulnes  of  these  in- 
stitutions? Yet  that  has  been  precisely  the  policy  of  the 
State  in  the  office  of  the  warden-general. 

You  have  been  one  of  the  first  governors  in  the  United 
States  to  recognize  the  fact  that  prison  administration  is  an 
educational  proposition.  You  have  put  into  the  position  an 
educator,  experienced  as  a  teacher  and  as  a  county  and  state 
superintendent  of  public  instruction.  He  has  also  developed 
remarkable  qualities  as  a  business  administrator,  capable 
•of  accomplishing  a  great  work  in  a  short  time.  The  position 


45 

of  warden-general  ought  to  be  held  during  good  behavior. 
Frequent  changes  must  of  necessity  result  in  loss  and  dam- 
age to  the  State  while  the  new  man  is  learning  the  duties  of 
the  position. 

Superintendents  of  prisons  with  duties  similar  to  those 
of  the  warden-general  are  found  in  the  States  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  York.  In  both  those  states  the  policy  of 
frequent  changes  has  prevailed,  with  disastrous  results. 

Let  Alabama  take  warning ! 

WOMEN'S  REFORMATORY. 

The  old  prison  at  Wetumpka,  known  as  "The  Walls" 
has  been  completely  reconstructed  to  serve  as  a  Women's 
Reformatory.  It  will  receive  all  women  who  have  hereto- 
fore been  sentenced  to  the  prison  at  Speigner  where  their 
presence  has  been  a  constant  source  of  trouble  and  where  it 
has  been  impossible  to  carry  on  any  reformatory  discipline. 

The  interior  of  the  cell  house,  hospital,  and  other  build- 
ings at  Wetumpka  has  been  torn  out  and  completely  recon- 
structed. Large  windows  have  been  put  into  the  buildings 
in  order  to  admit  adequate  light  and  air.  There  are  cheer- 
ful, separate  dormitories  and  hospital  wards  for  the  two 
races.  The  old  hospital  building  has  been  made  over  to 
provide  the  main  dining-room  and  so  forth.  The  women's 
hospital  is  excellent  except  that  it  ha's  no  satisfactory  drug 
room  or  examination  room. 

There  are  three  dormitories  for  colored  women  with  ac- 
commodations for  125  women  with  four  showers  and  toilets 
on  each  floor. 

The  least  satisfactory  part  of  the  institutions  is  the  ac- 
commodations for  the  superintendent  and  employes,  which 
are  inadequate. 

There  are  large  well-lighted  shops  for  carrying  on  manu- 
facturing. I  would  hardly  have  believed  that  this  old  plant 
could  have  been  so  successfully  converted  for  the  purposes 
<of  a  women's  reformatory. 

THE  STATE  PRISON  INSPECTION  DEPARTMENT. 

The  State  Prison  Inspection  Department  originally  had 
supervision  over  county  jails,  county  poorhouses,  city  pris- 


46 

ons  and  convict  camps.  Under  the  present  administration, 
the  scope  of  the  department  has  been  enlarged  and  the  in- 
spector has  been  invited  to  survey  the  State  institutions 
and  make  recommendations  for  their  improvement.  There 
has  been  good  co-operation  between  the  inspector  and  the 
State  Board  of  Control  and  Economy.  The  recommenda- 
tions of  the  inspector  have  been  intelligent  and  practical 
and  my  inspection  of  the  institutions  shows  that  a  large 
part  of  his  recommendations  has  been  adopted  or  is  in  pro- 
cess of  adoption  as  far  as  the  means  available  will  permit. 

There  is  a  very  great  advantage  in  this  kind  of  co-opera- 
tion. The  "State  Prison  Inspector,"  being  outside  the  ad- 
ministration has  a  fresh  point  of  view,  which  gives  in- 
creased value  to  his  suggestions,  and  the  inspection  of  prison 
camps  and  other  institutions  by  a  separate  officer  is  a  pro- 
tection both  to  the  administration  and  to  the  inmates. 

Much  progress  has  been  made  by  the  Inspection  Depart- 
ment in  the  improvement  of  the  county  jails  of  the  State; 
but  thus  far  comparatively  little  has  been  accomplished  for 
the  improvement  of  county  poorhouses.  County  officials, 
in  their  effort  to  be  economical  tend  to  become  penurious, 
and  they  are  usually  reluctant  to  undertake  the  necessary 
expense  for  proper  equipment  and  efficient  management. 

I  desire  to  emphasize  the  recommendation  of  the  State 
Inspector  for  the  establishment  of  district  poorhouses  under 
close  supervision  by  the  State. 

In  this  connection,  I  would  recommend  a  study  of  the 
Wisconsin  plan  of  managing  county  insane  asylums  and  the 
adoption  of  a  modification  of  that  plan  for  the  management 
of  county  jails  and  poorhouses.  The  State  of  Wisconsin 
makes  appropriation  of  a  monthly  sum  for  the  partial  sup- 
port of  patients  in  the  county  insane  asylums.  The  remain- 
der being  paid  by  the  county.  The  counties  cannot  draw  the 
State  money  until  their  bills  are  approved  by  the  State 
Board  of  Control,  which  therefore  holds  the  purse-strings 
and  can  require  the  counties  to  maintain  satisfactory  stand- 
ards. This  system  has  been  in  operation  for  40  years  with 
excellent  results. 

The  State  of  Alabama  already  pays  the  cost  of  boarding- 
prisoners  in  the  county  jails.  My  suggestion  would  be  that 
the  law  be  so  amended  as  to  divide  the  appropriation -which 


47 

is  now  made  for  maintaining  county  jails  so  that  the  county 
will  have  to  pay  a  part  of  the  expense  of  maintaining  the 
prisoners  and  part  of  the  expense  of  maintaining  the  pau- 
pers, the  bills  against  the  State  for  both  services  to  be  sub- 
ject to  the  approval  of  the  State  Prison  Inspection  Depart- 
ment, payment  to  be  withheld  in  case  the  county  authori- 
ties fail  to  maintain  minimum  standards  of  equipment  and 
efficiency. 

In  view  of  the  scope  of  the  Department  of  Prison  In- 
spection, I  would  recommend  that  the  name  of  the  Depart- 
ment be  changed  to  the  Department  of  Inspection  of  In- 
stitutions. 

PAROLE  AND  PROBATION. 

The  State  of  Alabama  already  has  a  parole  system  in  its 
institutions  for  juvenile  delinquents.  Under  this  system 
the  child  is  committed  to  the  guardianship  of  the  institution 
until  he  is  of  age,  or  for  a  shorter  period,  with  the  provision 
that  he  may  be  released'  on  parole  before  the  expiration  of 
that  period,  provided  he  gives  evidence  of  having  attained 
such  a  character  that  he  will  probably  maintain  an  upright 
life,  if  given  his  liberty,  but  subject  to  return  to  the  institu- 
tion in  case  he  violates  the  conditions  of  the  parole. 

The  parole  system  exists  in  a  crude  form  by  an  exercise 
of  the  pardoning  power  by  the  Governor.  For  the  past 
eight  years  the  governors  have  been  accustomed  to  issue 
"short  paroles"  under  which  a  prisoner  is  allowed  to  return 
to  his  home  unattended  in  case  of  the  death  or  serious  sick- 
ness of  some  member  of  his  family,  or  in  order  to  meet  other 
family  emergencies.  The  results  of  this  plan  have  been  as- 
tonishing. Under  Governor  Henderson's  administration. 
585  short  paroles  were  issued  in  four  years,  and  581  of  the 
prisoners  returned  voluntarily  to  serve  out  the  remainder 
of  their  sentence. 

It  is  possible  for  the  Governor  to  carry  on  an  extended 
parole  system,  by  use  of  the  pardoning  power,  by  giving  to 
the  prisoner  before  the  expiration  of  his  sentence  a  "condi- 
tional pardon,"  under  which  he  is  released  on  certain  con- 
ditions, of  good  behavior,  industry,  temperance,  and  so 
forth,  but  subject  to  return  for  the  remainder  of  his  sen- 
tence in  case  of  violation  of  the  conditions  of  the  condi- 


48 

tional  pardon.    The  parole  system  was  inaugurated  in  the 
State  of  Minnesota  by  this  plan. 

A  better  plan  is  for  the  Legislature  to  enact  a  parole 
law,  under  which  prisoners  may  be  released  after  serving 
a  minimum  term,  provided  they  give  satisfactory  evidence 
of  reformation. 

The  juvenile  parole  system  in  Alabama  has  been  un- 
satisfactory thus  far  because  of  the  lack  of  parole  officers. 
When  boys  or  girls  are  paroled,  their  success  depends  large- 
ly upon  having  some  judicious  person,  who  shall,  first,  decide 
whether  the  child's  home  is  a  fit  place,  and  if  not,  shall  find 
employment  for  him  elsewhere,  and,  second,  shall  exercise 
a  friendly  oversight  and  watch-care,  visit  the  child  at  in- 
tervals in  order  to  encourage  him  and  to  discover  whether 
he  is  meeting  the  imposed  conditions,  and  in  case  of  viola- 
tion of  the  parole,  returning  him  to  the  institution  for 
further  treatment. 

Very  recently  the  Board  of  Control  and  Economy  has 
appointed  the  former  superintendent  of  the  Girls'  Training 
School  as  parole  agent  for  that  institution,  but  thus  far  no 
other  parole  agent  has  been  provided. 

When  the  State  has  spent  $500  or  more  in  the  effort  to 
reform  a  child,  it  is  certainly  worth  while  to  incur  some  ad- 
ditional expense  in  order  to  make  sure  that  the  child  reaps 
the  benefit  of  what  the  institution  has  done  for  him. 

The  system  of  adult  paroles  has  spread  widely  through- 
out the  country,  both  north  and  south.  The  success  of  the 
system  has  invariably  depended  upon  the  efficiency  of  the 
parole  agents.  It  is  folly  to  institute  a  parole  system  with- 
out such  agents,  because  if  the  discharged  prisoner  is  placed 
in  charge  of  an  employer  without  supervision,  it  is  liable  to 
result  in  a  system  of  peonage,  such  as  was  discovered  in  the 
State  of  Texas,  where  discharged  prisoners  were  kept  under 
nominal  wages  for  as  long  a  period  as  thirteen  years,  with- 
out any  supervision.  In  some  cases  they  had  apparently 
been  entirely  forgotten  by  the  state  authorities. 

Probation  System. 

Juvenile  probation  exists  in  connection  with  the  juvenile 
courts  of  Birmingham,  Montgomery  and  Mobile.  Each  one 


49 

of  these  courts  has  some  excellent  probation  officers  and 
very  satisfactory  results  have  been  secured. 

In  many  states  the  probation  system  is  now  applied  to 
adults  as  well  as  juveniles.  When  an  individual  is  convicted 
for  the  first  time  of  an  offense  against  the  law,  if  the  judge 
believes  that  he  is  not  hardened  in  crime,  he  may  dismiss 
him  on  probation,  subject  to  the  watch-care  and  supervision 
of  an  "adult  probation  officer." 

It  is  customary  throughout  the  country  for  judges  to 
suspend  sentence  in  cases  of  this  kind,  but  the  probation 
system  is  very  much  to  be  preferred  to  the  suspended  sen- 
tence, because  when  the  sentence  is  suspended  no  one  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  conduct  of  the  individual.  He  may  imme- 
diately return  to  crime.  But  under  the  probation  system 
the  individual  is  kept  under  the  friendly  oversight  of  a 
trained  probation  officer,  who  advises  him,  assists  him  to 
obtain  employment,  admonishes  him  in  case  of  misconduct, 
and  if  he  proves  to  be  incorrigible,  returns  him  to  the  court 
in  order  that  a  prison  sentence  may  be  given. 

I  would  recommend,  first,  that  competent  parole  officers 
be  provided  in  each  of  the  juvenile  institutions;  second, 
that  the  adult  parole  system,  which  now  exists  informally, 
be  authorized  and  regulated  by  law ;  third,  that  a  system  of 
adult  probation  be  established,  to  be  used  at  the  discretion 
of  the  courts. 

If  these  recommendations  should  prevail,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  provide  for  adult  parole  officers.  I  would  suggest 
that  provision  be  made  in  connection  with  the  Department 
of  Prison  Inspection.  It  will  be  necessary  also  to  provide 
a  system  of  adult  probation  officers.  The  probation  officers 
should  be  attached  to  the  several  courts.  With  reference  to 
both  adult  and  juvenile  probation,  I  would  recommend  a 
study  of  the  North  Carolina  system  of  county  boards  of 
public  welfare  and  county  probation  officers,  who  also  act  as 
school  attendance  officers.  This  system  provides  expert 
supervision,  which  can  be  supported  as  the  need  grows  by 
appointed  assistants. 

STATE  DEPARTMENT  OF  CHILD  WELFARE. 

In  my  report  of  1918,  I  joined  with  the  National  Child 
Labor  Committee  in  recommending  the  establishment  of  a 


50 

State  Child  Welfare  Department,  to  take  care  of  the  inter- 
ests of  dependent,  neglected  and  defective  children. 

In  accordance  with  the  joint  recommendation,  the  Legis- 
lature, in  1919,  established  a  Child  Welfare  Department: 

(1)  To  devise  the  plans  and  means  for  and  have 
general  oversight  over  the  welfare  work  for  minor 
children  in  the  State.  (2)  To  advise  with  the  judges 
and  probation  officers  of  the  juvenile  courts  of  the  sev- 
eral counties  of  the  State  and  to  encourage  and  perfect, 
the  work  of  such  courts  throughout  the  State.  (3)  To 
exercise  the  right  of  visitation,  inspection  and  co-opera- 
tive supervision  of  all  State,  county,  municipal  and 
other  institutions,  public  or  private,  receiving  or  caring 
for  children,  and  of  all  orphanages,  child-placing  so- 
cieties, and  of  all  maternity  hospitals  and  lying-in 
homes.  (4)  To  exercise  general  supervision  over  the 
administration  and  enforcement  of  existing  laws  gov- 
erning apprenticeships,  adoptions,  and  child-placing, 
agencies.  (.5)  To  issue  permits  to  orphanages  and  all 
other  institutions  caring  for,  receiving,  placing  or 
handling  minor  children,  to  all  maternity  hospitals  and 
lying-in  homes,  and  to  revoke  any  such  permit  for 
cause.  (6)  To  require  reports  from  courts  and  institu- 
tions, public  and  private,  to  the  extent  and  in  the  form 
and  manner  hereinafter  provided.  (7)  To  enforce  all 
laws  regulating  the  employment  of  minor  children,  with 
full  power  of  visitation  and  inspection  of  all  factories, 
industries,  and  other  establishments  in  which  children 
may  be  employed.  (8)  To  make  surveys  and  to  hold 
conferences  and  conventions  for  the  purpose  of  carry- 
ing out  the  provisions  of  this  Act  and  of  promoting 
the  welfare  of  minor  children.  (9)  To  solicit  and  re- 
ceive donations  of  money  and  other  things  of  value  to- 
be  used  in  the  support  and  development  of  its  work. 
(10)  To  co-operate  with  the  State  Department  of  Edu- 
cation, the  State  Board  of  Health,  all  State,  county,  and 
municipal,  benevolent  and  religious,  educational  and 
correctional  institutions,  and  to  solicit  the  aid  and  to- 
co-ordinate  the  activities  of  all  private  and  volunteer 
social,  labor,  and  welfare  organizations  on  all  subjects 


51 

affecting  the  health,  education,  morals  and  general  wel- 
fare of  minor  children.  (11)  To  establish  and  main- 
tain homes,  receiving  stations,  or  other  agencies,  for 
the  care  of  dependent,  neglected  or  delinquent  minor 
children,  or  to  contract  with  such  institutions  for  their 
care,  and  to  receive  minor  children  committed  to  its 
care  and  to  place  such  children  either  in  family  homes, 
or  in  institutions  caring  for  children,  and  to  supervise 
such  children  however  placed. 

The  State  Child  Welfare  Department  is  fundamentally 
an  agency  founded  on  the  principles  of  prevention  and  re- 
construction. 

This  Department  is  the  only  agency  in  the  State,  outside 
of  institutional  establishments,  which  cares  for  such  classes 
of  children,  except  the  Alabama  Children's  Aid  Society, 
which  has  been  partially  supported  from  the  appropriation 
of  the  State  Child  Welfare  Department. 

The  appropriation  for  this  work  has  been  only  $30,000 
a  year,  which  is  a  very  meager  sum  for  the  work  required, 
especially  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  Board  is  respon- 
sible for  the  administration  of  the  Child  Welfare  law.  The 
Children's  Home  Society  of  Florida,  a  private  institution 
which  does  similar  work  in  that  state,  expends  over  $100,000 
per  year,  and  the  Children's  Home  Society  of  Mississippi 
has  expended  as  high  as  $50,000  in  one  year. 

The  Director  of  the  Department  says  in  her  report : 

In  discharging  the  duties  prescribed  by  law,  the 
members  of  the  Child  Welfare  Department  found  them- 
selves helpless  in  the  matter  of  providing  means  for 
the  care  of  children  left  destitute  and  homeless  by  rea- 
son of  poverty,  neglect,  dependency  and  other  causes, 
because  there  were  no  funds  for  child  care  .  .  . 
The  Alabama  Children's  Aid  Society  .  .  .  was 
found  to  be  doing  excellent  work.  ...  It  was 
agreed,  therefore,  .  .  ..  that  the  field  agent  of  the 
Child  Welfare  Department  should  be  detailed  to  serve 
as  financial  secretary  for  the  Children's  Aid  Society, 
raising  funds  for  child  care.  The  Department  there- 
upon assumed  the  responsibility  of  education  and  or- 


52 

ganization,  of  promoting  better  standards  in  all  agen- 
cies and  institutions  engaged  in  child  care,  of  gather- 
ing statistics,  ...  of  advising  with  judges  of 
juvenile  courts,  and  of  enforcing  the  state  child  labor 
law.  .  .  .  The  Children's  Aid  Society  agreed  to 
take  over  for  the  Department  all  destitute  cases,  par- 
ticularly placeable,  homeless  children.  .  .  .  This 
co-operative  plan  of  work  .  .  .  continued  for  al- 
most three  years.  ...  In  the  spring  of  1922,  the 
Directors  of  the  Children's  Aid  Society  proposed  to  the 
Alabama  Child  Welfare  Commission  that  the  Depart- 
ment take  over  the  work  of  the  Society.  ...  By 
agreement  between  its  directors  and  the  State  Child 
Welfare  Commission,  all  activities  heretofore  carried 
on  by  the  agents  of  the  Society  are  now  carried  on  by 
the  field  worker  of  the  Department. 

Staff. 

The  present  personnel  of  the  Department  consists 
of  the  director,  one  supervisor  of  children's  cases 
brought  into  the  courts,  three  case  workers,  one  insti- 
tution inspector,  one  extension  secretary  and  an  as- 
sistant, two  child  labor  inspectors,  and  four  office  as- 
sistants. 

For  the  purposes  of  administration  and  organization 
the  work  of  the  Department  is  divided  into  four  bureaus, 
namely,  the  Child  Labor  Division,  the  Institution  Division, 
the  Juvenile  Court  Division,  and  the  Children's  Aid  Division. 

The  Child  Labor  Division  makes  inspection  of  establish- 
ments where  children  are  employed  in  order  to  make  sure 
that  they  are  complying  with  the  child  labor  law. 

Fiscal  Years  1920  1921  1922  Total 

Inspections  1,336  2,770  2,459  6,565 

Number  of  violations  found 

and  corrected 448  849  681  1,978 

Children  14  to  16  years  found 

employed   1,224  2,097  1,873  5,194 

As  required  by  law,  the  Department  co-operated  with 
the  juvenile  courts  in  standardizing  their  work.  Full-time 


53 

probation  officers  were  found  only  in  the  counties  of  Coving- 
ton,  Etowah,  Mobile,  Montgomery,  and  Jefferson.  Other 
counties  have  failed  to  establish  full-time  probation  officers 
because  of  the  expense.  In  the  fiscal  year  1920,  workers 
of  the  Department  visited  26  counties  in  the  interest  of 
children;  1921,  24  counties;  1922,  38  counties. 

Efforts  have  been  made  to  ascertain  the  number  of  chil- 
dren's cases  and  cases  of  desertion  and  non-support  dealt 
with  by  the  courts.  Much  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in 
getting  this  information,  but  in  1922  the  following  cases 
were  reported:  Dependent  and  neglected  children,  854; 
delinquent  children,  2,160 ;  adoptions,  193 ;  unclassified,  18 ; 
apprenticeships,  4;  cases  of  adults  contributing  to  depend- 
ency, neglect,  and  delinquency,  152;  cases  of  non-suport, 
702. 

The  Institution  Division.  The  law  requires  the  Depart- 
ment to  issue  permits  or  certificates  of  approval  to  orphan- 
ages, maternity  hospitals,  lying-in  homes,  child-placing  and 
home-finding  agencies  and  all  other  institutions  receiving 
and  caring  for  children,  and  to  revoke  such  license  for 
cause;  to  inspect  and  prescribe  standards  for  all  child-car- 
ing institutions  and  agencies,  and  to  require  reports  from 
all  institutions  and  agencies. 

Alabama  has  12  institutions,  receiving  and  caring  for 
children,  which  are  maintained  by  churches  and  fraternal 
organizations;  five  detention  homes  for  juvenile  courts;  one 
municipal  home;  three  maternity  homes  for  maternity  pa- 
tients and  infants;  and  a  number  of  emergency  homes  re- 
ceiving children.  There  was  found  only  one  child-placing 
agency,  the  Alabama  Children's  Aid  Society,  which  is  now 
a  part  of  the  State  Child  Welfare  Department. 

The  Department  very  early  began  to  deal  with  abuses 
connected  with  institutions  which  received  unmarried  moth- 
ers and  their  children  and  disposed  of  such  children  with- 
out proper  precautions  or  responsibility.  Active  measures 
were  taken  to  regulate  the  operations  of  such  homes. 

Active  efforts  have  been  made  to  improve  the  child- 
placing  standards  of  orphanages  and  children's  homes  in 
order  to  insure  the  welfare  of  placed-out  children. 

Children's  Aid  Division.  Until  recently  this  Division 
has  operated  through  the  Alabama  Children's  Aid  Society. 


54 

The  Department  estimates  that  "over  2,000  children  have 
been  kept  out  of  the  institutions  of  the  State.  This  repre- 
sents a  saving  of  approximately  a  half  million  dollars  in 
actual  money.  On  the  other  hand,  these  2,000  children  have 
been  directed  through  the  normal  channels  of  family  life  to 
the  threshold  of  useful  and  successful  citizenship." 

In  addition  to  the  children  served  by  the  Children's  Aid 
Society  during  the  last  fiscal  year,  the  Department  has  been 
called  to  the  relief  of  43  children  in  almshouses,  143  chil- 
dren of  37  State  convicts,  389  children  of  miscellaneous 
classification,  and  42  maternity  cases.  The  scope  of  the  De- 
partment is  summarized  by  the  Director  as  follows : 

The  ultimate  aim  and  purpose  of  the  Child-Caring 
Division  and  of  the  whole  Department  is  not  that  its 
services  be  merely  remedial  or  palliative  but  rather 
that  of  mending  weak  or  broken  homes  and  finally  rais- 
ing the  standard  of  family  life. 

The  Child  Welfare  Department  makes  the  following 
recommendations : 

1.  That  the  State  institutions  for  dependent  and  de- 
linquent children  be  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Department. 

2.  That  the  Department  be  authorized  to  issue  permits 
to  institutions  for  one  year. 

3.  That  the  Department  be  authorized  to  pass  upon  ap- 
plications for  charters  for  children's  institutions  when  such 
applications  are  filed  with  the  Secretary  of  State. 

4.  That  the  juvenile  courts  be  forbidden  to  commit 
any  child  to  a  private  institution  which  does  not  hold  a  per- 
mit from  the  Child  Welfare  Department. 

5.  That  the  Department  have  the  legal  right  to  accept 
legal  guardianship  of  children. 

6.  That  the  Department  have  authority  to  develop  a 
bureau  of  child  study,  and  to  establish  and  co-operate  with 
clinics  for  the  psychological  study  of  dependent,  neglected 
and  delinquent  children. 

7.  That  the  Department  have  the  duty  of  certificating 
all  probation  officers  of  juvenile  courts  as  a  condition  of 
their  employment. 


oo 

8.  That  the  Department  receive  a  larger  appropriation 
for  its  work. 

I  would  endorse  all  of  these  recommendations,  especially 
the  recommendation  of  an  increased  appropriation.  It  is 
impossible  for  this  Department  to  function  properly  with 
less  than  $100,000,  and  if  it  has  adequate  means,  it  will  re- 
turn to  the  State,  annually,  in  cash  saving,  at  least  five 
times  that  amount. 

STATE  BOARD  OF  HEALTH. 

In  the  past  four  years,  the  State  Board  of  Health  has 
come  to  the  front  rank  of  health  organizations  in  the  United 
States.  This  is  due  on  the  one  hand  to  the  supply  of  ade- 
quate funds  by  the  Legislature,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  the 
extraordinary  ability,  activity  and  devotion  of  the  State 
Health  Officer. 

The  1919  session  of  the  Legislature  of  Alabama  enacted 
health  legislation  regulating  the  collection  of  vital  and  mor- 
tuary statistics,  the  control  of  venereal  diseases,  inspection 
of  food  establishments,  barber  shops,  and  other  public 
places,  and  other  matters  of  concern  to  the  public  health; 
this  enactment  carried  an  appropriation  of  $90,000  for  the 
first  year  and  an  increased  amount  for  succeeding  years, 
until  a  maximum  of  $150,000  was  reached  for  the  last  year 
of  the  quadrennium.  Previous  appropriations  for  state 
health  work  had  not  exceeded  $25,000  per  annum. 

A  special  session  of  the  Legislature  during  1920  pro- 
vided the  sum  of  $20,000  to  build  and  equip  a  new  laboratory 
for  the  use  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  and  a  special  ap- 
propriation of  $20,000  for  work  in  the  prevention  of  rabies, 
the  total  appropriation  for  the  four-year  period  was  $448,- 
000. 

Supplementary  funds  secured  from  federal  and  volun- 
tary health  agencies  amounted  to  $266,700  for  the  four- 
year  period.  The  State's  funds  for  public  health  work  were 
thus  increased  by  50  per  cent  because  of  the  fact  that  Ala- 
bama offered  unusual  opportunities  for  real  accomplish- 
ment and  thus  attracted  to  this  field,  both  money  and  men 
for  demonstration  purposes. 

The  money  made  available  for  construction  and  equip- 
ment was  applied  to  the  purchase  and  remodelling  of  prop- 


56 

erty  at  519  Dexter  Avenue,  which  provides  office  space  for 
the  entire  State  Board  of  Health  and  its  several  Bureaus 
including  the  laboratory.  A  fire-proof  concrete  vault  for 
the  safeguarding  of  statistical  records  was  installed  in  the 
basement,  which  also  provides  ample  storage  and  work- 
room space. 

Bringing  the  entire  organization  together  under  one 
roof  increased  its  unity  and  efficiency  and  occasioned  a  re- 
organization in  the  operation  of  the  laboratory  which  both 
increased  its  volume  of  service  rendered  and  reduced  its 
cost  of  maintenance. 

The  reorganization  of  the  laboratory  involved  the  es- 
tablishment of  three  branch  laboratories,  located,  respec- 
tively at  Birmingham,  Mobile  and  Decatur. 

The  plan  of  operation  which  had  formerly  brought  pa- 
tients to  the  State  Laboratory  for  Pasteur  treatment  was 
replaced  by  a  plan  which  provided  for  the  administration  of 
the  treatment  by  branch  laboratory  technicians,  county 
health  officers,  or  trained  physicians  nearer  to  the  patient's 
home. 

Typhoid  vaccine  is  being  made  in  the  laboratory  and 
distributed  free  to  the  citizens  of  the  State;  diphtheria 
anti-toxin  is  distributed  free  to  those  in  need  while  all 
other  biological  products  are  distributed  at  minimum  cost 
to  the  purchaser. 

The  work  of  the  Engineering  Bureau  which  has  the 
supervision  of  city  water  supplies,  sewage  disposal  plants, 
and  malaria  control  projects  can  point  to  concrete  evidence 
of  its  effective  work  in  the  death  rate  from  typhoid  fever, 
which  has  been  reduced  by  about  two-thirds  during  the  pe- 
riod under  consideration  and  the  death  rate  from  malaria 
which  has  decreased  in  a  like  proportion. 

There  should  also  be  taken  into  account  the  higher  level 
of  health  and  industrial  output  as  a  result  of  the  decreased 
incidence  of  these  diseases  together  with  hookworm  in- 
fection and  other  enteric  diseases. 

At  the  beginning  of  1919,  nine  full-time  Health  Units 
had  been  organized  on  a  permanent  basis,  serving  25  per 
cent  of  the  population ;  at  the  end  of  1922  there  were  19 
such  units  serving  50  per  cent. 


57 

Activities  in  venereal  disease  control  have  been  carried 
on  by  means  of  12  Free  Clinics  and  115  Co-operative  Clinics, 
which  latter  charge  a  nominal  fee  of  $2  for  service  which 
ordinarily  cost  from  $15  to  $25. 

In  a  report  published  by  the  Surgeon-General  of  the 
United  States,  covering  the  year  ending  June  30,  1922,  sta- 
tistics were  given  from  each  state  affiliated  with  the  United 
States  Public  Health  Service.  In  this  report  Alabama 
clinics  stood  first  in  cases  of  syphilis  treated,  and  in  cases 
discharged  as  probably  cured ;  second  in  doses  of  arsphena- 
mine,  "606,"  administered;  fourth  in  cases  of  gonorrhea 
treated ;  ninth  in  Wasserman  blood  tests  made ;  tenth  in  the 
total  treatments  of  all  kinds  given. 

During  this  four-year  period  90,773  doses  of  arsphena- 
mine  ("606")  were  administered,  249,914  other  treatments 
given  and  746,962  educational  contacts  made. 

The  results  of  this  work  indicate  a  very  definite  reduc 
tion  in  the  incidence  of  these  infections  as  evidenced  by 
comparative  figures  for  four  months  1922  vs.    the    same 
months  in  1921. 

From  July  through  October,  1921,  the  clinics  admitted 
4,165  cases  and  to  the  syphilitics  of  this  group  gave  8,724 
doses  of  arsphenamine  ("606"). 

From  July  through  October  1922  with  25  per  cent  more 
clinics  reporting,  they  admitted  2,733  cases  and  to  the 
syphilitics  in  this  group  gave  8,620  doses  of  arsphenamine. 

The  total  history  of  the  Bureau  of  Child  Hygiene  and 
Public  Health  Nursing  falls  within  the  four-year  period : 

At  the  beginnig  of  1919  there  were  eight  public  health 
nurses  engaged  in  Board  of  Health  work  including  those 
working  with  school  children  and  paid  by  the  Boards  of 
Education.  At  the  end  of  September,  1922  there  were  45 
nurses  so  employed,  eight  of  whom  were  on  county  or  city 
pay  rolls  while  31  were  paid  by  Sheppard-Towner  funds, 
composed  of  Federal  and  State  appropriations  for  the  pro- 
tection of  maternity  and  infancy. 

Nurses  employed  by  private  agencies  for  public  health 
work  and  affiliated  with  Boards  of  Health  bring  this  number 
to  51.  When  nurses  who  serve  the  Veteran's  Bureau,  in- 
dustrial plants,  and  Life  Insurance  Companies  are  included 
we  find  82  nurses  in  this  field.  This  is  an  increase  of  37 


58 

nurses  during  the  four-year  period,  engaged  in  preventive 
work. 

No  serious  epidemics  have  occurred. 

Mild  outbreaks  of  dengue  fever  and  malaria  have  been 
effectively  handled  by  mosquito  control  measures  and  the 
standard  quinine  treatment. 

The  inspection  and  scoring  of  hotels  and  food-handling 
•establishments  has  brought  about  marked  improvement  in 
hotel  conditions,  thus  conserving  the  health  and  increasing 
the  comfort  of  the  traveling  public. 

The  records  of  the  office  show  that  upward  of  4,500 
people  are  living  in  Alabama  today  who  were  due  to  die  of 
typhoid  fever,  malaria  and  pellagra  during  the  past  three 
years  had  conditions  remained  the  same  in  Alabama  as  ob- 
tained in  1917. 

This  does  not  take  into  account  the  rise  in  the  level  of 
health  which  the  activities  of  the  Board  have  brought  about 
in  the  control  of  hookworm  and  other  enteric  diseases,  the 
correction  of  defects  of  school  children,  the  pre-natal  and 
child  welfare  service  and  the  education  of  the  people  in  right 
habits  of  living. 

STATE  FINANCES. 
Assessed  Validation. 

In  my  report  of  1918  I  referred  to  the  fact  that  while 
the  law  required  that  all  property  should  be  assessed  at  60 
per  cent  of  its  true  value,  the  actual  assessments,  as  shown 
by  the  reports  of  the  United  States  Census  Bureau,  amount- 
ed to  only  22  per  cent  of  the  true  value. 

During  the  past  four  years  the  assessment  laws  have 
been  strengthened  and  the  assessments  have  been  advanced 
from  $670,000,000  to  $956,000,000.  The  valuation  of  prop- 
erty has  been  advanced  from  $292  per  inhabitant  to  $400 
per  inhabitant. 

It  is  well  known,  however,  that  there  has  been  a  great 
advance  in  the  valuation  of  both  real  and  personal  prop- 
erty in  all  parts  of  the  United  States  during  the  past  four 
years,  and  Alabama  is  no  exception  to  the  rule.  The  true 
value  of  the  property  of  Alabama  was  estimated  at  $3,370,- 
€00.000  in  1918,  and  I  estimate  it  at  $4,000.000000  at  the 


59 


present  time.  These  estimates  are  based  upon  the  increases 
shown  by  the  Census  Bureau  in  previous  years,  but  I  have 
used  a  lower  ratio  of  increase  in  order  to  be  safely  within 
the  true  value  at  the  present  time. 

Figuring  on  this  basis,  the  assessed  valuation  of  191& 
was  20  per  cent  of  the  true  value  and  the  assessment  of 
1922  was  24  per  cent,  an  increase  in  the  ratio  of  one-fifth. 

I  know  of  no  way  in  which  the  State  can  escape  from  the 
conditions  which  confront  the  entire  population  of  the 
United  States.  Every  householder  has  been  compelled  to 
increase  his  payments  for  food,  clothing,  fuel,  house  rent, 
medical  service,  and  other  necessaries  of  life,  and  the  same 
thing  is  true  of  public  institutions. 

I  know  from  my  own  personal  study  of  the  institutions 
of  Alabama  that  it  was  impossible  to  give  decent  care  to  the 
inmates  of  these  institutions  under  former  conditions.  I 
have  indicated  what  these  conditions  were  in  the  text  to 
the  foregoing  report. 

STATE  OF  ALABAMA. 

Assessed  and  True  Valuation  of  Property. 


Assessed 
Valuation. 

1918 $670,178,000 

1919 732,275,000 

1920 923,076,000 

1921   974,600,000 

1922 955,934,000 


Estimated  True  Valuation. 

True  True 

Valuation,  Estimated  Valuation 

Estimated.  Population.  Per  Inhabitant. 

1918 $3,370,000,000  2,297,000  $1,467 

1919 3,440,000,000  2,322,000  1,481 

1920 3,930,000,000  2,348,000  1,674 

1921  3,965,000,000  2,372,000  1,672 

1922   4,000,000,000  2,395,000  1,670 


Valuation     Per  Cent 

Estimated 

Per  In-        of  True 

Population. 

habitant.  Valuation. 

2,297,000 

$292             20% 

2,322,000 

315             21 

2,348,000 

393             23 

2,372,000 

411             25 

2,395,000 

400             24 

60 

Revenues  of  the  State. 

I  have  made  up  the  following  tables  of  revenue  from  the 
annual  reports  of  the  State  Treasurer  for  the  past  four 
years.  I  have  divided  the  revenues  into:  I.  "Tax  revenues" 
arising  from  various  forms  of  taxations ;  II.  "Miscellaneous 
revenues"  arising  from  the  Convict  Department,  the  Insur- 
ance Department,  Agriculture  and  Industries,  and  so  forth 
—  (State  revenues  which  did  not  come  from  taxation) ;  III. 
"Outside  revenues,"  including  contributions  from  the 
United  States  Government  and  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  high- 
way bonds. 

The  tax  revenues  of  the  States  have  increased  71.6  per 
cent,  which  is  somewhere  near  the  general  increase  in  the 
cost  of  living.  The  miscellaneous  revenues  have  increased 
26.5  per  cent.  The  major  part  of  this  increase  has  come 
from  the  Convict  Department,  the  Insurance  Department, 
and  increased  fees. 

The  receipts  from  convict  labor  were  phenomenal  during 
the  inflation  period  of  1920,  rising  to  two  millions  and  a 
half.  This  income  will  doubtless  decrease  somewhat  with 
the  abolition  of  the  convict  lease  system  which  has  been 
profitable  to  the  State  at  the  expense  of  inhumanity  to  the 
prisoner.  The  total  State  revenue  has  increased  58  per 
cent— from  $8,184,000  in  1919  to  $12,956,000  in  1922.  This 
represents  a  material  increase  in  the  burdens  carried  by 
the  State  but  it  corresponds  to  the  conditions  which  exist 
in  every  one  of  the  progressive  states  of  the  Union. 


61 


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GRAND  TOTAL  REVENUES  
^Automobile  fees,  etc.,  set  aside  by  1, 

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Totals  . 

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Convict  Department  
Insurance  Department  
Ffifts  . 

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Miscellaneous  

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TOTAL  STATE  REVENUE  . 
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U.  S.  for  highways  
Counties  for  highways 
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62 

In  my  report  of  1918,  I  said: 

Will  you  give  Alabama  the  place  that  belongs  to  her 
in  the  American  nation?  When  the  roll  is  called  in 
either  house  of  the  National  Congress  or  in  any  great 
national  convention,  the  first  name  is  "The  Senator," 
or  "The  Gentleman,"  or  "The  Delegate  from  Alabama." 
.  .  .  Will  you  therefore  now  provide  the  means  to- 
establish  a  State  Board  of  Public  Welfare,  chosen  from 
your  foremost  and  wisest  citizens  to  devise  an  ade- 
quate State  program  of  social  welfare;  and  will  you 
then  provide  the  means  to  execute  that  program,  at 
whatever  sacrifice  may  be  necessary  in  order  that  Ala- 
bama may  occupy  the  same  pre-eminence  in  social 
progress  which  she  has  already  attained  in  her  ma- 
terial development? 

In  the  past  four  years,  Alabama  has  advanced  from  the 
rear  rank  to  the  front  rank  of  the  states  of  the  Union  in  her 
social  progress.  This  great  step  forward  has  been  made 
possible  by  the  joint  action  of  the  Governor,  the  Legislature, 
the  State  officials,  the  public  press,  the  educators,  the  clergy, 
and  the  men  and  women  of  the  great  State  of  Alabama.  It 
is  true  that  this  achievement  has  been  accomplished  by  in- 
tense effort  and  self-denial  on  the  part  of  the  people;  but 
it  is  true  also  that  this  movement  has  been  for  the  benefit 
and  advancement  of  the  people  of  the  State,  and  what  has. 
been  gained  is  well  worth  the  cost. 

HASTINGS  H.  HART. 


DC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A    000  042  461     4 


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